Manhunt underway in France after synagogue ‘terror attack’

A manhunt is underway in southern France after an explosion outside a synagogue injured a police officer.

Authorities said the incident was being treated as a potential terror attack and “all means” were being deployed to find the perpetrator.

The explosion was caused by two cars which were set alight outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the resort town of La Grande-Motte, near Montpellier.

Police were still searching for the suspect, who was reportedly carrying a Palestinian flag and possibly a handgun, on Saturday evening.

Police sources told French media that one of the vehicles contained a hidden gas cannister.

The suspect also set fire to several entrance doors of the synagogue, officials said.

Jewish community leader Yonathan Arfi said the incident was “an attempt to kill Jews” and seemed to have been timed to target Saturday morning worshippers.

One police officer was injured in the explosion, which occurred between 08:00 and 08:30 local time (07:00-07:30 BST). His injuries are not said to be life-threatening.

Five people, including the rabbi, were inside the synagogue at the time, authorities said.

President Emmanuel Macron said the incident was “a terrorist act”.

One eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC: “Just as we were coming round the last corner, there was a huge explosion – a fireball into the air.

“It was surreal, like a film. We didn’t go any further.”

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and Interior Minister Gérald Moussa Darmanin visited the site on Saturday evening. Both had earlier condemned the attack, with Mr Attal calling it “an antisemitic act”.

“What happened here shocks and scandalises all Republicans in our country,” Mr Attat said during the visit.

“Because the reality is that once again, French Jews have been targeted, attacked because of their beliefs.”

Mr Attal said an “absolute tragedy” had been “narrowly avoided” as “there would have been victims” if the synagogue had been full of worshippers.

Both Mr Attal and Mr Darmanin said security would be strengthened outside synagogues.

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens and the municipality of my full support,” Mr Darmanin said earlier in the day.

The French Jewish community already live under high security, with many synagogues and Jewish schools under police protection.

A January 2024 report by the Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) said there had been a nearly threefold increase of antisemitic acts in France between 2022 and 2023.

In May, police shot dead a man after a synagogue in the north-western city of Rouen was set on fire.

In 2015, two days after the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, four people were murdered in a hostage attack on a kosher supermarket.

The explosion comes amid heightened concerns for Europe’s Jewish community, after the latest survey from the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) published last month found that Jewish people in the bloc continue to face high levels of antisemitism.

More than 8,000 Jews in 13 EU countries, including Germany and France, were interviewed. Some 96% said they had encountered antisemitism in their daily lives.

There has been widespread condemnation of the attempted arson attack across France’s political spectrum.

Left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon called it an “intolerable crime”, while the far-right National Rally’s Jordan Bardella said it was “a criminal and antisemitic act”.