British police have arrested two teenagers in connection with the hostage-taking at a synagogue in the United States.
The youths were arrested on Sunday evening in the south of the city of Manchester in northern England, said the British anti-terrorist police.
"You remain in custody for questioning," Manchester Region Police said.
An attacker took the rabbi and three other people into his power on Saturday in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.
After initially releasing a hostage, the police stormed the synagogue.
The three remaining hostages were unharmed, the perpetrator died.
US federal police identified the kidnapper as a 44-year-old British citizen named Malik Faisal Akram.
British police have confirmed the identity of the suspect, who is from Blackburn.
Brother apologizes
In the UK, a brother of the man spoke up. The family is distancing itself from the crime and apologizes to those affected, the brother wrote on the Facebook page of the Muslim community in the northern English city of Blackburn. The kidnapper was mentally ill. The family spent the night at Blackburn Police Station during the hostage crisis. There she was in contact with the FBI and with the hostage-taker, but could not dissuade him from his crime.
An official familiar with the incident told ABC that the kidnapper had demanded the release of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, who was being held in the United States. She was found guilty in 2010 of shooting at soldiers and FBI agents and is serving an 86-year prison sentence near Fort Worth. A lawyer for Siddiqui told CNN that the woman's family condemned the act. He contradicted the hostage-taker's claim that he was Siddiqui's brother.
US President Joe Biden described the kidnapping as an "act of terror".
According to initial findings, the perpetrator bought weapons after arriving in the country and spent his first night in a shelter for the homeless, Biden said on Sunday.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called on the population to fight anti-Semitism and hatred.