(The Lion) — British police shot and killed an attacker who allegedly drove through the gates of a Manchester synagogue Thursday and began stabbing people, killing two and injuring five others on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this appalling incident and we greatly appreciate the swift actions of the emergency services,” King Charles III said on social media, according to the AP.

The alleged attacker struck a security guard, smashed windows and was believed to have attempted to enter the synagogue, reported the New York Post.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer cut short his trip in Denmark to return home and chair an emergency cabinet meeting.

The pressure is on Starmer, who heads the Labour government, after years of accusations the party has been fostering antisemitism in the U.K.

He’s also on the hook for the party’s position on immigration, both legal and illegal, which many have felt contributes to anti-Jewish and anti-Christian attacks.

More than 1,500 antisemitic incidents have been reported this year, reports the AP, citing the Community Security Trust.

“The fact that this tragedy occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more shocking,” said Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales, in a message on social media. “We are thinking of the entire community as well as the emergency responders who attended this terrible incident.”

Police said the alleged terrorist drove a vehicle into pedestrians, stabbed a person and was shot after being confronted by armed officers.

“I could see three policemen aiming guns at a bloke (man) in the car park of the synagogue next door, telling him to not move, stay down, don’t move or we’ll shoot,” a witness told Reuters.

The police cautioned onlookers the man had a bomb and waved them away. Some of the onlookers were within 20 feet of the police at the time of the shooting.

“Then they did shoot, and he fell to the floor,” the witness told Reuters. “Then he tried getting up again and moving again, and they shot him again. And then it was just panic … just noise and panic.”

Video footage shows the suspect was shot inside the perimeter of the synagogue, while another person wearing traditional Jewish attire was wounded nearby, said the BBC.

Photos from the scene show the attacker was wearing some sort of belt that might have contained explosives.

Ambulance crews in protective gear treated the injured and one person was seen being carried into an ambulance.

Starmer described the attack as “especially horrific” given its occurrence on the holiest day in Judaism.

The concern the man carried a bomb prompted police to enforce the PLATO protocol – a national code used in Britain for potential marauding terror attacks, said Sky News.

The BBC posted photos of a Special Air Service helicopter patrolling the skies above the scene and noted that two men had been taken away in handcuffs nearby, although it’s not known if the men are related to the antisemitic violence.

In response to the attack, London police boosted security near synagogues nationwide, deploying additional officers in Jewish neighborhoods as a precaution, said Reuters.

The Israeli Embassy in the U.K. said the safety and security of Jews in the U.K. “must be guaranteed” in light of the attack “perpetrated on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.”

The attack is being treated as a terrorist incident with counterterrorism teams now taking the lead in the investigation, said the U.K.’s Telegraph.

Featured image: Screenshot from Associated Press live video feed.