Malik Faisal Akram Wiki

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Who was Malik Faisal Akram ?

FBI identifies man killed after taking hostages at Texas synagogue as 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram.

A man shot dead after taking hostages at a US synagogue has been identified as British national Malik Faisal Akram.

The 44-year-old, from Blackburn in Lancashire, was killed in a stand-off with police and SWAT teams lasting at least 10 hours.

Attack

The Metropolitan Police counterterrorism unit is “in contact with US authorities and colleagues from the FBI,” which has said there is no indication that other people were involved in the attack.

Akram took four people hostage, including a rabbi, inside Congregation Beth Israel’s synagogue in Colleyville around 11 a.m. on Saturday, local time.

One was released after six hours before an FBI SWAT team entered the building around 9 p.m., shot the attacker dead and released the other three unharmed.

The first part of the siege was captured on a Shabbat morning Facebook live stream, which was cut off around 2 p.m.

Akram demanded the release of the Pakistani neuroscientist

It featured the hijacker demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having links to al Qaeda, who was convicted of attempting to kill US military officers while in custody in Afghanistan.

He said he wanted to speak with Siddiqui, who is being held at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, following her 2010 conviction.

Witnesses say he referred to her as her sister, but John Floyd of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Siddiqui’s brother was not involved.

“This assailant has nothing to do with Dr. Aafia, her family, or the global campaign to get justice for Dr. Aafia,” he said.

“We want the perpetrator to know that his actions are wrong and directly undermine those of us who seek justice for Dr. Aafia.”

Video

Nearby resident Victoria Francis told the Associated Press that she tuned in to the broadcast before it went off and heard a man say “I’m the guy with a bomb” and “if you make a mistake, it’s all your fault.”

Video from Dallas television station WFAA also showed several people running out of the synagogue door and a man with a gun.

A rabbi in New York City reportedly received a call from the kidnapped rabbi in Texas demanding Siddiqui’s release, according to the officials, who are now interviewing him.

The motive for the attack on the synagogue, which is about 30 miles from Dallas, remains unclear and authorities are still trying to establish any relationship between Akram and Siddiqui.

Biden calls for ‘tighter focus’ on guns

US President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident as it unfolded, describing it as an “act of terror”.

He suggested that the attacker was able to obtain a gun on the street and that the siege represented a “failure to focus as much as we should on selling weapons.”

Liz Truss tweeted

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted to say the UK “condemns this act of terrorism and anti-Semitism”, while UK Ambassador to the US Karen Pierce said she was “deeply concerned about the Texas news.”

“The United Kingdom and the United States stand shoulder to shoulder in defiance of terrorism and in defense of the fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens,” she wrote.