Ten dead as gunman storms Synagogue

At least ten people have been reportedly killed when a lone gunman opened fire on worshipers at an American synagogue having a circumcision ceremony.

The gunman later identified as Robert Bowers, 46, was said to have used a semi-automatic rifle and handgun during the attack.

The shooting happened at the Tree of Life Congregation in a leafy suburb of Pittsburgh, in the heart of its Jewish community.

About 100 people we in the synagogue at the time. It was not known if the baby being circumcised, during a ceremony known as a bris, was harmed.

Bowers had left a trail of vile white supremacist comments and anti-Semitic abuse on social media, including sharing posts denying the Holocaust.

An hour before the attack he wrote on the Gab social media forum that Jewish “invaders” were “killing our people”.

He wrote: “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Police officers describing the scene over a scanner said the gunman gave himself up after being injured. “All these Jews have to die,” he said again as he crawled towards them.

President Donald Trump was quick to insist that tougher gun laws would have made little difference but the latest attack will also fuel fears that religious and race hate is on the rise during a fraught period of divisive politics.

The tree-lined residential neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of the city’s Jewish community.

Its imposing concrete facade is punctuated by rows of swirling, modern stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of God’s law, the “life cycle” and “how human-beings should care for the earth and one another,” according to its website.

Three Jewish congregations meet there and all three were holding services on Saturday morning between 9:45am and noon, with about 100 people in the building.

The attack comes after months of warnings by Jewish groups that anti-semitic attacks were on the increase at a time of heightened racial and religious intolerance.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported earlier this year that anti-Semitic incidents surged more than 50% in 2017, to almost 2000 cases, the biggest increase since they began collecting data