Detroit, Michigan - An unidentified assailant exchanged gunfire with security at a synagogue on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, on Thursday, police said.

Law enforcement officers flooded the area soon after the incident, amid heightened tension nationwide over the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"At least one individual came to the temple," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters. "Security saw him, engaged him in gunfire."

"We don't have that person in custody," he said. "We're looking to see if it was more than one person."

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CNN, citing a law enforcement source, said the suspect in the attack on the synagogue was dead.

The sheriff said a security member was injured by the assailant's pickup truck and was being treated in the hospital.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemned the attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, a northwest suburb of Detroit.

"This is heartbreaking," she said. "Michigan's Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace."

"Antisemitism and violence have no place in Michigan," she said.

The sheriff said law enforcement had been on high alert since President Donald Trump launched the war on Iran nearly two weeks ago.

"We've been talking for two weeks about the potential, sadly, of this happening," Bouchard said. "So there was no lack of preparation.

"All Jewish facilities in the area are going to have a lot of extra presence around it until we figure this out," the sheriff said.

Television images showed a massive law enforcement response in the area around the synagogue. Smoke could be seen billowing from what appeared to be a fire in the building.

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Local media reported that the assailant had rammed a car into the synagogue.

The FBI Detroit Field Office said it was among the agencies responding to the attack.