French police have shot dead a man armed with a knife and iron bar who set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen, reports The Guardian.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, posted on X that the man had been “neutralised”, and he thanked officers for their “reactivity and their courage”.
Emergency services were alerted after a fire was detected at the synagogue in the city 80 miles (130km) north-west of Paris. The man was spotted on the synagogue roof brandishing an iron bar and a kitchen knife, the prosecutor handling the case said.
Smoke was coming out of one window at the synagogue, the Rouen prosecutor Frederic Teillet told reporters.
The attacker jumped off the roof and ran towards one police officer, threatening him with a knife. The officer warned him to stop but he continued. The officer then “shot him five times, hitting him four times”, Teillet said. The man died at the scene.
The attacker, who has not been identified publicly, was subject to an order to be expelled from France. But he had made an appeal against the decision, which meant the expulsion was suspended while the appeal was taking place.
Firefighters were on the site and the blaze was brought under control.
Tensions have grown in France over the Israel-Gaza war. The number of antisemitic acts has surged in the country, which has the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in western Europe.