A man who launched a car-ramming and stabbing attack on a British synagogue on Yom Kippur may have been inspired by Islamist extremism, police said on Friday, as emotions ran high after the atrocity.

Two people were killed and three people were seriously wounded in Thursday's attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester, northwest England, which has heightened fears among Britain's Jewish community and seen security boosted at synagogues across the country.

But police said one of the dead may have been inadvertently shot by armed officers. One of the wounded was also shot in the emergency response.

The suspect, Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a UK citizen of Syrian descent who was wearing a fake explosives vest, was also killed by police.

In a statement on Friday evening, Greater Manchester Police head of counter-terrorism policing Laurence Taylor said Shamie did not appear to have been on their radar but had been arrested and bailed previously on suspicion of rape.

"At this stage, we believe Al-Shamie may have been influenced by extreme........

© International Business Times