PARIS, Oct 28 ― French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said he "strongly condemned the act of anti-Semitism in Pittsburgh” where a gunman killed 11 people at a synagogue, as France increased vigilance at places of Jewish worship around the country.

The French leader said in a tweet that his thoughts were with the victims and offered his support to the grieving families.

A heavily armed gunman opened fire on Jewish congregants during a baby-naming ceremony at the synagogue in the US city yesterday in what appeared to be one of the worst anti-Semitic attacks in American history.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner later said in a tweet that he had told local authorities to "increase vigilance around synagogues” from today.

"Anti-Semitism kills and anti-Semitism has no borders. The terrible attack in Pittsburgh is tragic proof,” the interior minister wrote.

"In Pennsylvania, as in our own country, we remain united against hate,” he added, expressing solidarity with the American people.

France's half-a-million-plus Jewish community is the largest in Europe but has been hit by a wave of emigration to Israel in the past two decades, partly due to the emergence of a virulent strain of anti-Semitism in predominantly immigrant neighbourhoods.

President Macron was in Istanbul yesterday, taking part in a summit on Syria with the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Germany. ― AFP