Britain on Monday promised “full support” to US investigators after it emerged that the man behind a hostage taking at a Texas synagogue was a British citizen.
“This was a terrible and anti-Semitic act of terrorism,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told journalists after the attack during which British captor Malik Faisal Akram was killed, according to AFP.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain called the attack “completely unacceptable and we condemn the action in the strongest possible terms.”
“The act is all the more reprehensible since it was instigated at a place of worship where Jews were targeted,” the Council’s Secretary General Zara Mohammed said.
“This was, quite simply, a hate crime and an act of antisemitism. We are thankful that the hostages are unharmed. Though some may seek to exploit such incidents for divisive ends, we must double our resolve to remain united against such hatred,” he added.
On Sunday, police in Britain arrested two teenagers in connection with Saturday’s attack on the synagogue in Texas.
The Manchester Evening News reported that the two teens were detained in south Manchester by officers from Counter Terror Policing North West and remain in custody for questioning.
US President Joe Biden on Sunday described the hostage incident at the Texas synagogue as “an act of terror”.
“This was an act of terror. This was an act of terror. And it not only was related to someone who had been arrested, I might add, 15 years ago and been in jail for 10 years — the idea that it was something new,” Biden told reporters in Philadelphia.