Hostage taking in a synagogue in Texas: what happened?

2022-01-17T07:06:29.398Z

Joe Biden immediately denounced an "act of terrorism", and the American authorities launched an investigation "of international scope" on Sunday. Several arrests have been made in the UK.

Four people, including a rabbi, were taken hostage on Saturday January 15 in Colleyville (Texas) by a madman demanding the release of a woman suspected by the United States of links with al-Qaeda, the Islamist network responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001. The American president denounced an

“act of terrorism”,

and the British police proceeded to the arrest of two suspects in Manchester.

What happened ?

Four hostages were held for nearly ten hours in the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Colleyville, a town of about 23,000 people about 40 miles from Dallas, on Saturday night.

Among them was a respected local rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, who said that "

the gunman had become increasingly aggressive and threatening in the final hour of the hostage crisis

It ended with a police assault and the death of the kidnapper – without it being known at this stage whether he committed suicide or was shot dead by the police.

The four hostages were all released unharmed on Saturday evening.

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Adding to the spectacularity of the hostage situation, a Facebook live broadcast of the church service was in progress when the suspect burst in. “

There is something wrong with America

”, launched this man, according to this retransmission followed by AFP before its interruption.

I'm going to die

," he also said, repeatedly asking an unidentified caller that "

his sister

" be on the phone to him. Aafia Siddiqui is currently being held in a prison hospital in Fort Worth, near Dallas. She was the first woman to be suspected by the United States of links with al-Qaeda, the Islamist network responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and against the Pentagon, which had earned her the nickname "

Lady al -Qaeda

”.

She "

is absolutely not involved

" in the hostage-taking, however, assured her lawyer in a statement to CNN.

She confirmed that the man was not her client's brother.

Experts pointed out that the word used by the man in Arabic was figurative and meant "

sister

" in the Islamic faith.

This Pakistani scientist was sentenced in 2010 by a federal court in New York to 86 years in prison for having attempted to shoot American soldiers while she was detained in Afghanistan.

Who is the hostage taker?

Joe Biden confirmed that the suspect, identified by the FBI as 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram, had "

insisted on securing the release of someone who has been in prison for ten years

" and had "

held anti-Semitic and anti-Israel remarks

”.

The American president explained that the hostage taker had bought his weapons "

on the street

" and he revealed that he "

apparently did not have any bombs

", contrary to what he had claimed during the events.

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North West England Counter Terrorism Police confirmed in a statement that Malik Faisal Akram is from the Blackburn area of Lancashire. On the Blackburn Muslim Community Facebook page, a man identifying himself as his brother said he "

suffered from mental health issues

" and was "

shot and killed

". "

There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender

," said the man, who says he was "

until the early hours in liaison with Faisal, the negotiators and the FBI

British counter-terror police have announced that they have arrested two young people in connection with the hostage-taking in south Manchester on Sunday evening.

They remain in custody for questioning

," Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.