Who is Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistan national at the centre of Texas hostage incident?

A gunman, who had taken four people hostage at a Dallas-area synagogue in the US, had demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui.

New Delhi: A gunman, now identified as a British national, had taken four people hostage at a Dallas-area synagogue in the United States on Sunday (January 16, 2022).

The daylong siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville ended in gunfire with all hostages released unharmed and with the suspect dead. 

The FBI identified the suspect as Malik Faisal Akram, 44, a citizen of the United Kingdom but did not say how or when he entered the United States.

As per a few reports, he had demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistan national who is dubbed as the 'Lady Qaeda' and is currently lodged in a US jail.

The hostage-taker also claimed to be the brother of Siddiqui.

Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, is serving an 86-year federal prison. A US jury had convicted Siddiqui in 2010 of attempting to shoot and kill a group of FBI agents, US soldiers and interpreters who were about to interrogate her in Ghazni, Afghanistan, for alleged links to al-Qaeda. None of them were wounded, but Siddiqui was reportedly shot in the abdomen when they returned fire.

A mother of three, Siddiqui was educated in the United States and has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University.

She had also made headlines in 2018 when there were reports about a 'deal' weaved between Islamabad and Washington DC to swap physician Dr Shakeel Afridi who aided the US to track down former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011 with Aafia Siddiqui.

She is currently being held at a federal medical lockup in the Fort Worth area in Texas.

Act of terror, says Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden has called the episode 'an act of terror'. Speaking to reporters in Philadelphia on Sunday, Biden said that Akram had allegedly purchased a weapon on the streets.

"Allegedly - I don't have all the facts, nor does the attorney general - but allegedly the assertion was he got the weapons on the street," Biden said.

"He purchased them when he landed and it turns out there apparently were no bombs that we know of. ... Apparently he spent the first night in a homeless shelter," he added.

British police arrest 2 in investigation into Texas standoff

Police in England have said that they have arrested two teenagers in their investigation into the Texas synagogue. The Greater Manchester Police did not name the suspects or whether they faced any charges and described them as teenagers who were in custody for questioning.

(With agency inputs)