Terrorist from Blackburn shot dead in siege at US synagogue
‘I am going to die today’
A BRITISH terror suspect was shot dead after taking a rabbi and several worshippers hostage at a synagogue in Texas.
Authorities in the US last night named Malik Faisal Akram, from Blackburn, as the gunman behind the ten-hour siege near Dallas.
Akram, 44, entered the synagogue around 11am on Saturday as a service was being live-streamed online.
He used abusive anti-Semitic language and demanded the release of convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui – known as Lady Al Qaeda – whom he referred to as his ‘sister’.
Once the hostages were finally released, police raided the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville and shot Akram dead.
The stand-off had been watched by some members of the synagogue’s congregation on the live stream as they sat at home. Akram could be heard saying in a northern English accent: ‘If anyone tries to enter this building, I’m telling you… everyone will die.’
Stacey Silverman, who watched the livestream, said: ‘The perpetrator was completely deranged, foul-mouthed, swearing, saying anti-Semitic tropes, talking about Israel and Palestine and Islam and that he had a gun.
‘He implied he had a bomb in his backpack and that he could let it loose at any minute. It was horrifying and it went on for a few hours. I was terrified.’
Before the livestream was cut off Akram made the chilling comment: ‘I am going to die today. Are you listening? I am going to die. Ok? So don’t cry over me. Ok, don’t cry over me’.
ABC News reported that Akram claimed to have bombs in unspecified locations and that he had explosives in backpacks with him.
One hostage had been released uninjured at about 5pm local time and the rest came out a few hours later.
Dramatic footage from a local news crew showed hostages fleeing out of a door at the synagogue.
They included Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker who had been leading the service earlier that day. Akram could be seen briefly leaving the building in the footage while holding a pistol before going back in.
Moments later a SWAT team moved in and gunshots were heard. Speaking during a trip to Philadelphia, President Joe Biden said: ‘This was an act of terror.’
It is unclear why Akram demanded the release of Siddiqui, who was jailed for 86 years after being arrested in Afghanistan in 2008 for the attempted murder of a US Army captain. The FBI does not believed anyone else was involved in the attack.
Akram’s brother, Gulbar, had been assisting the FBI in attempts to end the stand-off.
In a post on the Blackburn Muslim community Facebook page, the brother said that although his brother was suffering from mental health issues, ‘we were confident that he would not harm the hostages’.
He posted that he was in an incident room at Greenbank Police Station ‘until the early hours liaising with Faisal [Akram], the negotiators, FBI etc’. Condemning his brother’s actions, he added: ‘There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender.’
Following his escape Rabbi Cytron-Walker said: ‘I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive.’
The FBI and police in the town, which is around 27 miles from Dallas, are now liaising with the Metropolitan Police in London as part of an investigation with ‘global reach’.
A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was ‘aware of the death of a British man in Texas and are in contact with the local authorities’.
Akram had only recently travelled to the US, according to Sky News, raising questions about why and how he targeted this particular synagogue.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: ‘We condemn this act of terrorism and anti-Semitism.
‘We stand with US in defending the rights and freedoms of our citizens against those who spread hate.’