UK police said Thursday that officers investigating a series of antisemitic incidents in north London are hunting a single suspect, as they appealed for help tracing the man.

The British capital’s Metropolitan Police said seven Jewish premises, including four synagogues, had been targeted in the separate incidents over recent weeks.

The synagogues and a private residence in Golders Green had a substance smeared on them, while a liquid was thrown towards a school and over a car in two other instances.

The offences are being investigated as religiously-motivated criminal damage, with CCTV footage showing one suspect was likely behind all seven, the force said.

It released an image and CCTV footage of the man being sought.

“These are revolting and appalling acts, and we are urging the public to help us identify the perpetrator,” Detective Superintendent Katie Harber, leading the investigation, said in a statement.

“We are very aware of how distressing these offences have been for those who have been targeted. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour.”

Jewish charity the Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the first six months of the year, down from a record high of 2,019 incidents in the first half of 2024.

However, this year’s number was the second-highest on record, according to the charity, which has monitored antisemitism in Britain since 1984.

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The gunman who shot dead US right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk in a targeted killing remained at large Thursday, but authorities said they have video images of the suspect and have recovered a “high-powered” rifle.

Kirk, a 31-year-old superstar on the Republican right who was credited with helping Donald Trump return to the presidency last year, was shot while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

The killing, described by the FBI as a “targeted event” — shocked a nation already reeling from political tensions half a year into Trump’s second term.

Authorities acknowledged the gunman remained at large after having escaped into the woodland.

“We’re doing everything we can to find him, and we’re not sure how far he has gone yet, but we will do our best,” FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls told a media briefing.

Authorities said they had secured quality images of the killer, who was of university age.

“We do have good video footage of this individual. We are not going to release that at this time,” said Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety.

Bohls said the presumed murder weapon had also been found.

“It is a high powered bolt action rifle. That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” the FBI agent said.

Two people initially detained for questioning were released after officials determined they had no connection to the shooting.

– ‘Dark moment’ –

Reflecting the intensely political nature of the incident, it was Trump, rather than law enforcement authorities, who first announced to Americans that Kirk had died from his wound.

Trump then addressed the nation in a video address on social media in which he cited a “dark moment for America.”

Despite no public information about the shooter’s identity or motive, the president went on to suggest that the left wing was responsible — and to pledge a wide-reaching response.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing.”

“My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity,” Trump said.

– Shot in neck –

Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to the crowd and collapsed in his chair.

Students at the university described the ensuing panic — and their broader fears as political divisions deepen across the country.

“It makes me feel like I should be very careful about expressing my political ideas,” said Samuel Kimball, a software engineering student, told AFP.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, called the killing a “political assassination.”

Kirk, who supporters have hailed as a “martyr” for conservative ideals, had an outsized influence in US politics.

He co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to drive conservative viewpoints among young people, his natural showmanship making him a go-to spokesman on television networks.

Kirk used his enormous audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for anti-immigration policies, outspoken Christianity and gun ownership, and to spread carefully edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events.

Three months ago, a Minnesota man shot dead a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in their home, and Trump survived an assassination attempt during his election campaign in July 2024.

Vice President JD Vance was due to travel to Utah to meet Kirk’s family on Thursday, a source familiar with the plans said, after he cancelled a trip to New York to mark the 9/11 attacks anniversary.

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The Director General of the Edo State Migration Agency, Lucky Agazumah, on Thursday, said that two female minors who were being trafficked to Libya were intercepted in Zaria, Kaduna State.

He noted that the minors aged 13 and 14 years, one a sickle cell sufferer, were lured to undertake the trip by traffickers who promised them better opportunities abroad by working as maids.

Speaking at the premises of the agency in Benin, the state capital, on Thursday, Agazumah said the transport firm responsible for transporting the unaccompanied minors would be sanctioned, while noting that other co-conspirators have been arrested.

He also vowed to ensure the traffickers face justice, as there would be no hiding place for human traffickers in the state.

He said, “The two female minors, among them, a sickle cell sufferer, in Edo State, aged 13 and 14, have been rescued while being trafficked to Libya.

“The minors had already gotten to Zaria in Kaduna State when their trafficker pressured them to return because his mother, Comfort Etim, was in the police net.

“They left Edo on Sunday and returned on Wednesday night.”

He said the girls said they were told they would be taken to Italy to work as maids to an old couple, but that they should not tell their parents.

They said their sponsor put them in a bus and gave them a number to call when they got to Kano State.

One of them, who identified herself as Success, said, “The boy told me her sister is in Italy and that she and her husband were old. He said they don’t have any children. He told me not to tell my mother. He said we should call our parents when we get abroad. They said the second girl does not look well, but she said she is well.

“They took us to a motor park in Aduwawa and placed us inside a bus to Kano State. He told the driver we were going to Kano and gave us a number to call when we got to Kano. He gave us hijab, milk, golden morn and water. I am happy that I am back home.”

The other victim, who is suffering from sickle cell, said she wanted to surprise her mother when she got to Italy.

According to her, “The boy told me her sister is 78 years old. I said that if I go, I will surprise my mother. I told them my body is sound. He told us to wear the hijab when we get to Kano. We are to call a man in Kano who will take us in from there. When we got to Zaria, he called us to return home, but the Kaduna man asked us to continue the journey.”

The mother of the suspected trafficker, Comfort Etim, said her daughter had previously taken six minors to Libya.

She said her daughter interrogated the children before she agreed to take them to the motor park.

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