Two men have been jailed for a combined total of 63 years after being convicted of plotting an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting against Jewish people in Manchester.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were sentenced at Preston Crown Court to life imprisonment with minimum terms of 37 and 26 years respectively. The court heard they were “very close” to carrying out a gun attack targeting Jewish schools, synagogues and shops in Manchester.
Prosecutors said Saadaoui, the ringleader, sought to smuggle four AK-47 rifles, two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition into the UK, in what police described as a potential mass-casualty attack. Counter-terrorism officers intervened in May 2024 during a highly resourced operation involving more than 200 officers.
Saadaoui idolised Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Islamic State terrorist who planned the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds more in coordinated shootings across the city.
He first came to the attention of authorities after operating at least ten Facebook accounts under false identities to disseminate large volumes of Islamist extremist content.
An undercover officer, referred to in court as Farouk, was subsequently deployed to build Saadaoui’s trust, initially online and later through in-person meetings.
According to the head of the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, Frank Ferguson
This was a deeply disturbing plot inspired by extremist ideology. Had these terrorists succeeded, it would have led to mass murder and been one of the deadliest attacks on Jewish communities in this country.
The case comes amid heightened concern over antisemitism in Britain. In recent months, Jewish communities have faced Islamist attacks, antisemitic demonstrations, and growing hostility following the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. A 2025 review described antisemitism as “pervasive” across British society, including universities and public services.
Just last year, on October 2nd, a knife-wielding driver attacked the Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The terrorist, a UK citizen of Syrian descent, reportedly called police to “pledge allegiance” to the Islamic State terrorist group.
