MOSCOW, Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A young man armed with a knife stabbed and wounded eight people in a synagogue in downtown Moscow on Wednesday in an attack prosecutors believe was ethnically or religiously motivated.

    The man rushed into the synagogue during an evening prayer service and started stabbing people at random with a knife, the synagogue's rabbi Iskhak Kogan was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying. The rabbi and his son subdued the attacker, who was later taken into police custody.

    Eight people were wounded in the attack and taken to hospitals,police said. Among the wounded were a U.S., an Israeli and a Tajik national, city prosecutor Anatoly Zuyev said.

    The attacker said "I've come here to kill" when he was asked by people at the synagogue why he had come, according to the rabbi.

    The rabbi also said tensions around the synagogue have increased recently. "I cannot describe this as threats, but we have appealed to the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service to help us and beef up security," he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

    The Moscow city prosecutor's office identified the attacker as 20-year-old Moscow resident Alexander Koptsev and said it has launched a probe into ethnically or religiously motivated crimes.

    Borukh Gorin, spokesman for the Russian Jewish Communities Federation, said Koptsev was searched with a metal detector at the entrance to the synagogue. When the metal detector sounded off, he showed the large metallic buckle on his belt to the security guards and was let go.

    Security was tightened at all Moscow synagogues following the attack, he said without giving details.

    A human rights group in Moscow said xenophobia was behind the attack.

    "A very sharp rise in xenophobia was visible in Russia recently, including anti-Semitism," Moscow Helsinki Group Chairman Lyudmila Alexeyeva was quoted by Interfax as saying.

    Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who was visiting Israel, decided to cut short his visit and return to his country immediately.

    The Israeli Embassy in Moscow urged Russian authorities to take measures to ensure the security of local Jewish communities. Enditem