4 held hostage as backer of ‘Lady Al Qaeda’ terrorist storms synagogue
A MAN with ‘a northern British accent’ took a rabbi and at least three worshippers hostage at a synagogue in America last night.
The armed man reportedly told police he had ‘planted bombs’ around the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, a city less than four miles from Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
According to America’s ABC News the man demanded authorities release his ‘sister’, Al Qaeda terrorist Aafia Siddiqui.
When the man burst into the synagogue yesterday morning services were being broadcast live on Facebook.
As Swat teams surrounded the synagogue the man was heard repeatedly demanding that negotiators ‘get my sister on the phone’, as well as allegedly referring to time he spent in England.
At one point the unidentified man could be heard asking: ‘What the f*** is wrong with America?’
He was also heard to say: ‘Don’t cry for me, I’m going to die’, shortly before the livestream of the service cut out.
According to the news network CNN the man could be heard making multiple references to Islam between ‘expletive-laden’ rants.
At one point he said he had ‘six beautiful kids’.
Aafia Siddiqui has been detained in the US since 2010 and is serving an 86-year-sentence for a number of crimes, including attempted murder of a US soldier in Afghanistan.
ABC News reported it was unclear whether the man’s reference to her as his ‘sister’ meant she was his sibling or if he was referring to her as his ‘spiritual sister’.
Siddiqui, 49, was one of the world’s most wanted terrorists until she was captured by US forces in Afghanistan in 2008 and brought back to the US to stand trial.
Nicknamed ‘Lady Al Qaeda’, prosecutors claimed she had close links with Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban.
She is serving her prison sentence at the high-security Federal Medical Centre in Carswell, Fort Worth, Texas – just a half-hour drive away from the synagogue.
A Colleyville police spokesman said last night: ‘There is no threat to the general public. FBI negotiators
are in contact with the person in the building.’
When Siddiqui was captured and detained in the Afghan city of Ghazni in 2008, the US military said she grabbed a gun and tried to shoot a soldier before she herself was shot in the torso.
However, her supporters claim she was deliberately shot by US soldiers and the story about her grabbing a gun was invented to justify it.
Al Qaeda and ISIS demanded her release in exchange for two American hostages, James Foley and Kayla Mueller. Mr Foley was later beheaded by British executioner Jihadi John and Ms Mueller was killed in an airstrike.
Barry Klompus, a member of the congregation since it opened in 1999, said he was alerted to the situation by another member and quickly turned to the live feed until it was cut off.
He added: ‘It was horrible listening and watching, and it’s that much more horrible not knowing.’
The 63-year-old said he did not know of any significant previous threats to the congregation.