Four hostages held in a synagogue in Texas in the United States were released safe and sound on the night of Saturday January 16 to Sunday January 17.

Their kidnapper, who demanded the release of a Pakistani woman convicted of terrorism, died during the assault by the police.

The ten-hour hostage-taking at the Colleyville Synagogue deeply affected the Jewish community in the United States.

“The hostage rescue team stormed the synagogue” Saturday night and “the suspect is dead,” local police chief Michael Miller said during a press conference.

Hostages safe and sound

All hostages have been released unharmed, Texas Governor Greg Abbott previously announced. 

FBI special agent, US Federal Police, Dallas, Matthew DeSarno, said the four hostages - including a respected local rabbi - did not need medical attention and would soon be reunited with their families.

"He didn't hurt them," he said.

According to journalists present on site, a loud explosion and gunshots rang out in the synagogue just before Greg Abbott's announcement.

A few hours earlier, while tough negotiations were taking place between the police and the kidnapper, a first hostage had been released unharmed.

The hostage-taking occurred in the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Colleyville, a town of about 23,000 people about 40 miles from Dallas.

The kidnapper demanded the release of a terrorist

The voice of a man, at times agitated, could be heard on the broadcast of the religious service live on Facebook, consulted by AFP before its interruption.

“There is something wrong with America”, had launched this man in particular.

"I'm going to die," he also said, repeatedly asking an unidentified caller for "his sister" to be on the phone.

The suspect, according to ABC News, was calling for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist sentenced in 2010 by a New York federal court to 86 years in prison for attempting to shoot US service members while detained in Afghanistan. . 

Aafia Siddiqui is currently being held in a prison-hospital in Fort Worth, near Dallas.

Jihadist movements had in the past demanded his release.

Educated in the United States, she was the first woman to be suspected of links to Al-Qaida by the United States. 

Aafia Siddiqui "is absolutely not involved" in the hostage-taking, however, assured CNN in a statement to her lawyer.

She confirmed that the man was not Aafia Siddiqui's brother, while ensuring that her client condemned these actions.

Experts for their part pointed out that the word used by the man in Arabic was figurative and meant "sister" in the Islamic faith.

The FBI has opened an investigation into the kidnapper, who has been identified, said agent Matthew DeSarno, without revealing the name of the deceased suspect.

With AFP 

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