Yesterday’s attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester, which was rapidly declared a terrorist incident by the police, had all the outward signs of a jihadi attack. The perpetrator, Jihad Al-Shamie, rammed a vehicle into pedestrians before launching a marauding knife rampage. Two worshippers were killed, and three others were seriously injured, though the picture has now been complicated by reports that one of the victims died after being accidentally shot by armed police. Al-Shamie was wearing a fake suicide belt and very likely intended to die in the attack, knowing that the police wouldn’t take any chances once they saw it. As it happened, he was right.
