Greater Manchester Police said officers from the North West England Anti-Terrorism Police had apprehended two teenagers as part of an investigation into a Saturday kidnapping in the US state of Texas.
According to a statement, reproduced by the Washington Post, the two youths were detained on Sunday (16) and “remain in custody for questioning”.
Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old Briton, held a rabbi and three members of the congregation hostage at gunpoint at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville. After about 11 hours, the hostages were released and Akram was found dead, but it is still unknown if he was shot by police or if he committed suicide.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, one of the hostages, told US media on Monday that he and other members of the congregation managed to escape after he threw a chair at the kidnapper.
According to reports, Akram repeatedly referred during the kidnapping to Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani known as “Lady Al-Qaeda”, sentenced to 86 years in prison for terrorism in 2010. Akram reportedly chose the synagogue as it was the closest congregation of Jews to the federal prison where Siddiqui is serving time.
According to the Post, a brother of Akram’s wrote on social media that he suffered from mental disorders and that the family does not agree with his actions and “sincerely apologizes to all victims involved in the unfortunate incident.”
Akram was from Blackburn, in northwest England, a region that was once known for the rise of terrorists. The alleged relationship of the attacker on Saturday with the two teenagers detained by the British police was not revealed. The FBI said its counter-terrorism task force is investigating the case and that it considers the incident a “terrorist act, which targeted the Jewish community”.
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