British security services recently investigated the man behind a hostage taking at a synagogue in Texas but deemed he posed no threat, media reports said on Tuesday. US authorities identified the captor as British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, 44, who was shot dead in a 10-hour siege in the small town of Colleyville on Saturday. READ | The Texas synagogue hostage-taker was on the phone to his kids when he was shot dead, brother saysMI5 keeps tabs on around 3 000 jihadist suspects at any one time, and has investigated up to 40 000 individuals in total. The four hostages - including a respected local rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker - were all freed unharmed on Saturday night, prompting relief in the United States, where the Jewish community and Biden renewed calls to fight anti-Semitism. At one point the standoff involved 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officers massed around Colleyville.

Source: News 24 January 18, 2022 18:09 UTC