Blackburn, the terrorist who attacked a Texas synagogue and was shot to death, had been staying in a Christian shelter for the past week. He also bought his gun “off the street” nearby.
Malik Faisal Akram (44), a Lancashire man, attacked Dallas for ten hours and took the rabbi, three other hostages, and demanded the release Lady Al Qaeda a convicted terrorist so that they would all die together.
Akram was believed to have arrived in New York City on January 2nd, most likely via Manchester. Despite a criminal conviction, the British Muslim was allowed entry to the US. The next stop for him was at a Texan Christian charity, asking for a night’s sleep.
The terrorist attack occurred in Dallas, where he was staying at the Union Gospel Mission. He also purchased a handgun “off the street”, according to Joe Biden.
Bruce Butler, CEO of the shelter, said that staff had seen him ‘come to go’ starting January 6, but did not speak about religion or his intentions to attack the synagogue.
He said, “We were his way station.” He knew what he wanted. He was very quiet’, adding he left for the final time on January 13.
Police are trying to piece together what he did in the final 48 hours before launching the attack around 22 miles away from Union Gospel Mission on the morning of Saturday, January 15.
After arriving at JFK on January 2, the terrorist stayed for two nights in a hostel that was run by a Christian charity. The attack took place on January 15.
Malik Faisal Akram, who was known as Faisal Akram, had ranted that he wished he had died in the 9/11 terror attacks. He visited Pakistan regularly and was reported to be a member the Tablighi Jamaat, an organization that aims to “purify” Islam.
The Covid-19 pandemic meant that a live stream of the service at the Synagogue was available online on Saturday, and he entered the building around 11:15.
He spewed anti-Semitic abuse and demanded the release of convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqu, whom he referred to as his ‘sister’.
The location of the attack is significant because she is being held in a jail about 20 miles from Colleyville, at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth.
Two more hostages ran out of the sidedoor, being chased by Akram, who was waving a gun. He ran in the opposite direction, spotting armed police and fled.
A rescue squad from the FBI stormed Akram’s building, firing shots and throwing stungrenades. Around 10:10 on Saturday night, Akram was killed in an explosion of bullets.
Gulbar his brother said that he was a cooperator with FBI to resolve the standoff. Last night, counter-terrorism police from the UK said they had been working in conjunction with US counterparts.
In a post on the Blackburn Muslim community Facebook page, Gulbar said that although his brother was suffering from mental health issues ‘we were confident that he would not harm the hostages’.
He said he had spent ‘all night’ in an incident room at Greenbank Police Station ‘until the early hours liaising with Faisal (Akram), the negotiators, FBI etc’.
‘And although my brother was suffering from mental health issues we were confident that he would not harm the hostages,’ Gulbar said.
‘At around 3am the first person was released, then an hour later he released the other 3 people through the fire door unharmed.’
He added: ‘A few minutes later a firefight has taken place and he was shot and killed. There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender’.
Gulbar added that the FBI was due to arrive in the UK on Sunday to speak to Akram’s family.
He said: ‘We would also like to add that any attack on any human being be it a Jew, Christian or Muslim etc is wrong and should always be condemned’.
Uninjured, one hostage was freed at 5pm on Saturday. Others were released a short time later.
Some hostages fled from the door of the synagogue in dramatic video taken by local reporters.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron Walker was also present at that service.
Akram briefly leaves the building as he holds a gun and then returns in.
Moments later, the SWAT team moved in and gunshots could be heard.
The standoff was 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, a member of synagogue, 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 terrifying and it continued for several hours. I was terrified.’
Malik Faisal Akram (44), was killed by FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team. He held four hostages at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville for over 10 hours on Saturday.
One of the hostages at the Congregation Beth Israel in, Colleyville, Texas
ABC News reported Akram claimed that bombs were in place in an unspecified area and that explosives were in backpacks.
In a post on Facebook 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 spokesperson 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’.
Assistant Chief Constable Dominic Scally for Counter Terror Policing North West said authorities are ‘assisting with the investigation being led by the US Authorities’.
‘Police forces in the region will continue to liaise with their local communities, including the Jewish community, and will put in place any necessary measures to provide reassurance to them,’ he said.
Sky News reported that Akram was only recent to travel to the USA, which raises doubts about his motives for targeting this synagogue.
Lead FBI special agent Matthew DeSarno confirmed Akram was a British citizen and that ‘at this time there is no indication that other individuals are involved’.
Speaking on a trip to Philadelphia, Joe Biden said: ‘This was an act of terror; it was an act of terror.’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss Tweeted: ‘My thoughts are with the Jewish community and all those affected by the appalling act in Texas.
‘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.’
The Texas Department of Public Safety had said in a statement as the situation was unfolding: ‘The man claims he and his sister will be going to Jannah (Muslim belief of heaven) after he sees her.’
Before the livestream was cut off Akram made the chilling comment: ‘I am going to die today. Are you listening? You are going to be my last breath. Ok? So don’t cry over me. Ok, don’t cry over me’.
Why Akram wanted Siddiqui released is unknown. Siddiqui was held for over 86 years in Afghanistan after being accused of attempted murdering a US Army commander in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani-born neuroscientist was found with two kilos of poison sodium cyanide and plans for chemical attacks on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.
A lawyer representing the woman’s brother denied he was involved and said he had no idea why she was being mentioned.
The attack comes amid increasing antisemitic incidents in the US. Dallas Police Department and New York police increased their patrols in front of synagogues.
In 2018, a shooter shot 11 people dead and six others injured at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, Pennsylvania during Shabbat morning services.
Aafia siddiqui was the ‘Lady Al Qaeda’ terrorist responsible for chemical attacks on Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building.
Siddiqui was a biology major from MIT and stated in 1993 that she wanted “something to help our Muslim brothers or sisters” even if this meant violating the law.
In a defiance display that stunned her friends, she jumped up and raised her little wrists in midair.
A detailed account of her path to infamy reveals that she attended a National Rifle Association gun class, and convinced other Muslims to learn to shoot a gun.
Siddiqui deceived her husband, and when they got married over the telephone, he was shocked that she was only marrying him because of his familial connections.
The FBI released two handout photographs of Aafia Siddiqui, a terror suspect in May 2004
Siddiqui is a mother to three children and was eventually granted her wish. Siddiqui became the FBI’s most wanted woman.
Her case was transferred to Americans, and she was convicted in 2010 of attempted murder.
However, her hate for America was so intense that she took a gun from one her guards during interrogation and fired at them shouting “Death to Americans”.
A 2014 Boston Globe profile of Siddiqui’s time in Boston sought to answer what happened during her 11 years as a student in the U.S.
It was a miracle that radiated an intelligent, devout woman who graduated from MIT and also received a doctorate of neuroscience at Brandeis University.
Her friends were few at MIT, and she was known for her intelligence, drive, and regular attendance at Prospect Street mosque. Tamerlan, an alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan, would also attend the mosque.
Her long sleeves were adorned with the hijab, and she was deemed a sweet roommate in her all-female dormitory.
Her life had been centered around the Muslim Student Association, but her priorities changed when the Bosnian War broke out. This seems to be what led to her radicalization.
Siddiqui joined the Al-Kifah Refugee Centre in Brooklyn, which was thought to have been Al Qaeda’s focal point of US operations.
Evan Kohlmann, a terrorist expert said that Aafia came from a distinguished family with connections to jihad and sympathy. It was exactly what they were looking for.
In 2008, she was detained in Afghanistan by Afghan forces. She had two kilograms of poison sodium chloride with her and plans to attack New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.
She and her friends were discussing ways to raise money to help Muslims who had been killed in Bosnian War. One of their jokes was that they did not want to get on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
Waqas Jilani was a Clark University graduate student. She said that Waqas Jilani said, “She raised her little wrists up in the air, and she said, “I would be proud to have been on the Most Wanted List because it would signify I am doing something for our Muslim brothers, and sisters.”
“She told us all to be proud of being on that list.”
Jilani also stated that Siddiqui had said in her speeches, that Muslims need to ‘get trained and go overseas to fight’.
He stated, “We all laughed like Aafia has a gun!”
“Partially because she was such an awful shot but also because she kept talking about how the U.S. was so terrible and the FBI was so good.
Siddiqui wed Mohammed Amjad Khan (son of wealthy Pakistani families) in an over-the-phone ceremony before he flew from Pakistan to Boston.
He discovered, however, that she was not the serene religious woman he had been told. Her life was quite different.
He explained that he discovered that her main goal wasn’t the wellbeing of their nascent family. It was, instead, to be prominent in Muslim circles.
Khan told the Boston Globe that she watched Osama Bin Laden videos, went to terror training camps in New Hampshire every weekend with Al-Kifah activists and begged him not to take a job as a doctor so she could go along.
He decided to stop bringing his coworkers home from work because she wanted to ‘only talk about them becoming Muslims’.
Khan said, “Invariably this will lead to unpleasantness. I decided that my work …. would remain separate.”
‘… By now her attention had moved to fighting against America instead of teaching Americans how to become Muslims, and America would be a Muslim country.
Siddiqui was wearing all black and insisting that they go back to Pakistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Siddiqui then got divorced.
American officials think she may have remarried Ammar al-Baluchi to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the nephew) of the 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, her family disputes this.
Siddiqui, her children and their belongings disappeared in Karachi Pakistani in 2003 just after Mohammed was detained.
Robert Mueller, FBI Director, named her one year later as one of seven Al Qaeda operatives most wanted. She was also the only female.