BERLIN — A shooting near a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle left at least two people dead on Wednesday with one suspect taken into custody, local authorities said.
One eyewitness, speaking to local reporters, described a suspect dressed in combat gear and carrying an assault rifle. The eyewitness also heard explosions, even though a police spokeswoman could not confirm the use of explosives.
The Bild newspaper reported that the attacker tossed a grenade into the synagogue’s cemetery.
Authorities urged locals to stay in their homes and the train station in Halle, a city of 240,000, was also closed as a precaution.
In the neighboring federal state of Saxony, authorities sent additional police units to protect synagogues, a spokesman confirmed.
Shots were also fired about 10 miles away from Halle, in the town of Landsberg, according to German media reports.
Police spokeswoman Ulrike Diener said there were reports of injured people in Halle and that multiple suspects were believed to have fled the scene. It was unclear if the shooting was a deliberate attack on Yom Kippur, one of the holiest days of the year in Judaism.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have risen significantly in recent years in Germany and other European countries.
There have been about 1,500 anti-Semitic verbal and violent attacks annually in recent years, but researchers say the actual figures are higher. One recent survey found that about 70 percent of anti-Semitic incidents go unreported, according to researchers at the Technical University of Berlin.
