Colleyville – After the happy end of the hostage-taking in a synagogue in Texas, it is now clear that the hostage-taker who was killed is a British man. On Saturday, special forces stormed a synagogue in Texas, freed all the hostages and killed the hostage-taker.
I want all hostages to be safe
According to US news channel ABC, the kidnapper claimed he was Muhammad Siddiqui, the brother of Pakistani terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence for assaulting soldiers!
The gunman demanded to speak to the FBI — and to his “sister.” According to US media, he wants to press her free. Meanwhile, the British newspaper The Independent reports that the kidnapper may not be the prisoner’s brother. According to Faizan Syed, representative of a local Muslim civil rights group, Muhammad Siddiqui is not there. The brother is said to have assured his lawyer John Floyd of this. “This person who is committing this heinous crime, whoever he is, is not Aafia Siddiqui’s brother Muhammad, who is in a completely different part of the state of Texas,” Syed was quoted as saying.
According to local media reports, the hostage-taker was in the synagogue in Colleyville during the service on Saturday morning. The sermon was streamed live on the church’s Facebook page.
At times during the live stream, a man might be heard ranting and talking regarding religion. What happened in the synagogue might not be seen. According to the police, the perpetrator has now released one of the four hostages. The person should be unharmed.
Foto: Jessica Harkay/AP
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Who is the terrorist Aafia Siddiqui?
dr Aafia Siddiqui (49), a mother of two from Boston (Massachusetts, USA), nicknamed “Lady Al-Qaeda”, has been serving an 86-year sentence in Fort Worth, Texas since 2010 for attempted murder.
She is said to have once belonged to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The FBI put her on its Most Wanted Terrorist List. She was also said to have been in contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the masterminds of the September 11 attack.
Siddiqui studied at the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), received his doctorate in neuroscience from the private university Brandeis.
Photo: Facebook
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In 2008 she was arrested in Afghanistan. According to data from Foreignpolicy.com she was carrying sodium cyanide, a precursor to the release of hydrocyanic acid. In addition, documents for tinkering with chemical and nuclear weapons (“dirty bombs”). She is also said to have planned to use the deadly Ebola virus as a biological warfare agent.
During FBI interrogation, she managed to get hold of a pistol and fired at the officers.
Islamists tried several times to free the woman in exchange for prisoners. In Pakistan, she is revered as a heroine in extremist circles.
Update: After the hostage situation, the British anti-terrorist police arrested two young men in Great Britain. The two teenagers were caught in the south of Manchester and are now being questioned, the responsible investigative authority said on Monday night.