INVESTIGATORS worked today to determine the exact reason a man with a rifle crashed into a large Michigan synagogue in what federal officials are saying was an attack carried out by a naturalised United States citizen born in Lebanon.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was killed by security after ramming into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit, Michigan, and driving down a hallway in a vehicle that then caught fire, according to authorities.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.

The synagogue’s staff, teachers and 140 children at its early childhood centre were not injured, according to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.

Cassi Cohen, director of strategic development at Temple Israel, said the crash happened near a classroom and, in addition to the children, there were also more than 30 staff members in the synagogue.

The attack was the second at a house of worship in Michigan within the past year. Last September, a former marine fatally shot four people at a church north of Detroit and set it ablaze. 

The FBI later said he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.