An armed wannabe car bomber plowed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the preschool of a Michigan synagogue Thursday in a targeted attack on the Jewish community, investigators said.

The antisemitic attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield happened just before 1 p.m., when Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old Lebanese American, smashed his car through the doors and sped through the building with 140 students inside.

Heroic security guards opened fire and stopped the driver, who died at the scene, Oakland Sheriff Mike Bouchard told reporters.

All students and staff were evacuated to safety but one security guard was injured in the antisemitic attack.

The explosive-laden truck sparked a blaze, with aerial footage from local outlets showing smoke wafting from the building in the aftermath as authorities swarmed the synagogue.

Ghazli — found dead inside the car and burned beyond recognition — was armed with a rifle, and mortar shells were discovered in the vehicle’s rear, sources told The Post.

“We can’t say what killed him at this point,” Bouchard said. “But security did engage the suspect with gunfire.”

The hateful maniac was identified by the Department of Homeland Security, which revealed the Lebanese national became a naturalized US citizen more than a decade ago under the Obama administration after entering the country through Detroit in May 2011, on an immigrant visa as the spouse of an American citizen.

Ghazli, a restaurant worker who lived in Dearborn Heights, carried out the twisted attack after at least four family members, including a sibling, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon days earlier, sources close to the investigation told The Detroit News.

The temple’s head security guard was hit by the madman’s car and knocked unconscious in the chaos. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and is expected to recover, police said.

At least 30 emergency responders are also being treated for smoke inhalation at local hospitals.

“Everyone is safe,” said a post on Temple Israel’s Facebook page. “Our amazing staff, our courageous teachers, and our heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe.”

The post lauded security guards who took down the suspect as “truly heroes,” and said “teachers followed their training and kept the children safe and calm.” 

Bouchard noted that authorities had spent two weeks working with state and federal law enforcement to gather intel and prepare for a potential hit on the religious site amid an uptick in antisemitic attacks nationwide. 

“Everything that was supposed to happen, happened. Security did their job, and then the responders did theirs,” he told reporters, while stressing that it’s too early to determine if the attack was terror-related.

The FBI, which is leading the probe, classified the incident as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community” but didn’t share a motive.

“This is a deeply disturbing and tragic incident, and our deepest sympathies are with the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community,” said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office.

Following the terrifying attack, the pre-school alerted parents that all students and staff were safe and had been swiftly evacuated from the scene.

Several nearby schools also went into immediate lockdown following the incident, which drew nearly 200 police and sheriff’s department vehicles to the streets surrounding the grounds.

A large number of bomb-sniffing dogs and technicians remained on site as law enforcement worked to clear the vehicle of explosives and other potential threats, the sheriff said.

FBI and ATF agents were on the scene immediately after the attack, Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed, urging everyone to “please pray.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that President Trump had been briefed on the incident, with the president later sending the shaken community “our love.”

“Before we begin, I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in Detroit, Detroit area, following the attack on the Jewish synagogue early today, and I’ve been briefed, fully briefed and it’s a terrible thing,” Trump said from the East Room. “It’s a terrible thing but it goes on and we’ll get right down to the bottom of it.”

The Detroit suburbs of Oakland County, Michigan — where Temple Israel is located — has one of the largest Jewish populations outside of the New York area.

It is also located about 20 miles north of Dearborn, which has the largest Muslim and Arab population in the US.

The attack is the latest in a string of assaults and threats against synagogues and Jewish communities in recent months, as dangers are expected to intensify amid escalating tensions over the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Antisemitic threats have skyrocketed in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which recorded more than 9,300 cases across the US in 2024, the highest total since tracking began in 1979.

The targeted attack prompted Mayor Zohran Mamdani to ramp up NYPD presence at Jewish institutions and other houses of worship across the Big Apple.

“The attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, is horrifying,” Hizzoner said on X.

“My thoughts are with the congregation and all who are shaken by this act of antisemitic violence. I am continuing to closely monitor the situation. Out of an abundance of caution, the NYPD will continue to deploy high-visibility patrols to Jewish religious and cultural institutions across the five boroughs.”

Patrols will also be increased in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department said.