Hostage-taking in Texas: the kidnapper wanted to “die as a martyr”

The perpetrator of the hostage-taking at a synagogue in Texas last weekend, a Briton killed in the police assault, had been praying for "

" to die as a martyr, he said during a an exchange with his brother revealed by the newspaper The Jewish Chronicle.

Counter-terrorism police in North West England announced on Thursday January 20 that they had arrested two men in Birmingham (central England) and Manchester (north) as part of this investigation which raises questions about the incapacity of the services British counter-terrorism forces to prevent Malik Faisal Akram from taking action.

Read alsoTexas hostage-taking investigation: two arrests in England

The FBI, the American federal police, identified this 44-year-old British national as the hostage taker in a synagogue in Colleyville, a city of approximately 23,000 inhabitants located about forty kilometers from Dallas, Texas (southern United States). -United).

He was killed in the police raid on Saturday while the four hostages were all released unharmed.

“I have been praying to Allah for this for two years”

An audio recording posted online by the newspaper The Jewish Chronicle, obtained from a security source, reveals a tense exchange between Malik Faisal Akram and his brother Gulbar, in the midst of a hostage situation. While his brother tries to convince him to put an end to it and tells him to "

", the kidnapper claims to want to die as a martyr. “

,” he said. "

." In this exchange where we hear him shouting and uttering insults, Malik Faisal Akram also mentions “

”.

US media previously reported that it had called for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist sentenced in 2010 by a New York federal court to 86 years in prison for attempting to shoot US servicemen while in custody. in Afghanistan. The Times reported Thursday that Malik Faisal Akram had been reported twice, in 2016 and 2019, to Britain's Prevent program for people at risk of radicalization, but his case was not reviewed by Channel, the program's arm. takes care of the most serious cases. In 2020 Malik Faisal Akram was the subject of an investigation by the United Kingdom's internal intelligence service (MI5), which concluded that there was no threat, British media had indicated.

Read alsoThe Texas hostage taker was known to MI5

His brother Gulbar had said on the Blackburn Muslim Community Facebook page that Malik Faisal Akram “

”.

He added that his family was "

" and that they "

".

According to SkyNews, Malik Faisal Akram, who lived in Blackburn, in the north of England, had arrived in the United States just before the New Year via JFK airport in New York, before buying the weapon used during the hostage-taking.