The hostage-taking at the Colleyville synagogue in Texas was a terrorist attack, said US President Joe Biden on Sunday, January 16, during a visit to Philadelphia. At the same time, Biden mentioned that the crime is connected “with a certain person who was detained 15 years ago and who has been in prison for 10 years.” AFP journalists interpreted this as a hint that it was Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman microbiologist suspected of having links with al-Qaeda and sentenced in 2010 to 86 years in prison for attacking FBI and US military personnel.
Earlier, the American media, based on individual phrases of the attacker, which could be disassembled on the recording of the broadcast of the service in the synagogue on the Facebook social network, suggested that the latter wanted to secure the release of Siddiqui from prison and called her “sister”. For her part, the woman’s lawyer told CNN reporters on January 15 that Siddiqi had “absolutely no involvement” in the synagogue hostage-taking and that the perpetrator was not her client’s brother.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on January 16 that she condemned the “terrorist and anti-Semitic” crime in Colleyville. Earlier, the FBI found out that the man who took hostages in the synagogue – 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram – had British citizenship.
Synagogue hostage in Texas
The hostage-taking drama in the synagogue in the Texas city of Colleyville played out on the evening of January 15th. The attacker forcibly held four people, including the rabbi, for several hours. 200 police officers, including several FBI officers, took part in the rescue operation.
After 10 hours from the moment the hostages were taken, the special forces stormed the synagogue building. As a result, the attacker died, but none of the hostages were injured. Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller did not name the cause of the suspect’s death.
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