Counter-terrorism police swoop on street 'where Manchester attacker Jihad Al-Shamie lived'

Counter-terrorism police and armed officers descended on a residential street which is claimed to be where it is claimed the suspected Manchester synagogue attacker Jihad Al-Shamie lived. Residents said that police swooped on Langley Crescent in Prestwich, just over two miles away from the scene of the terror attack, at around 4pm on Thursday afternoon.

Footage from the street shows a huge police presence, including armed police and a Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officer.
One resident said: "A police pulled up and a vehicle with armed police with body armour and helmets. Two police officers shut the road on Langley Avenue.

"All the neighbours were out in their gardens. It is such a nice area, really quiet area and the neighbours were worried. It is not something you expect to see.

"It lasted 20 minutes, there were two plain-clothed police officers. "

Another resident, who lives close to where the police were seen, said: "I have lived here for over two years and have never seen anything like this. It is not what you expect.

"We don't know what has happened but after the shocking events at the synagogue, you can't but help think could it be linked, surely it is too much coincidence."

One local, Simon Barlass, 56, told the Manchester Evening News he recently saw Al-Shamie "bench pressing in his garden".

He said police cars started arriving on Langley Hall Road, which the pedestrianised Langley Crescent runs off, at around 4.40pm. He said six unmarked police cars and a police minibus turned up.

Two people were killed in the attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall on Thursday morning.

Greater Manchester Police named 35-year-old Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, as the person it believes is responsible for the car and knife attack on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

The attack bears chilling similarities to the Westminster Bridge terror attack in 2017 when Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians before stabbing PC Keith Palmer to death at the gates of Westminster.

Police declared a major incident at 9.37am after receiving a call from a man who said he had witnessed a car being driven towards members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

The force confirmed the suspect's death a few hours after shots were fired by armed police at 9.38am.

A woman, who described herself as a religious Jew who lives next door to the synagogue, said as soon as the suspect got out of the car he "started stabbing anyone near him".

Chava Lewin said: "I was outside and heard a banging sound and I thought it might be a firework.

"My husband went outside and then ran back inside and said, 'there's been a terrorist attack'.

"I spoke to someone who said she was driving and saw a car driving erratically and it crashed into the gates (of the synagogue).

"She thought maybe he had a heart attack. The second he got out of the car he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue. He was in the courtyard.

Greater Manchester Police said it had 'declared Plato' - the national code-word used by police and emergency services when responding to a 'marauding terror attack'.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said "additional police assets" will be deployed at synagogues across the country this weekend following the attack.

He flew home early from a meeting of European leaders in Denmark in order to chair a Cobra meeting.