The UK counter-terror police announced on Thursday that two men were arrested in Manchester and Birmingham as part of an ongoing investigation into the attack on a Texas synagogue.

The attack was carried by a British national who held four people hostage for several hours before he was shot dead by the police.

“As a result of this ongoing investigation, two men have been arrested in Birmingham and Manchester. They remain in custody for questioning,” the Counter Terrorism Policing North West division said in a statement.

On Saturday, a man who was later identified as British citizen Malik Faisal Akram took four people hostage in the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, during Sabbath services.

After a standoff that lasted for several hours, the hostages managed to escape and Akram, who had reportedly arrived in the United States via New York City’s JFK International Airport two weeks earlier, was killed by the police.

U.S. media reported that the hostage-taker claimed to be the brother of convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman who allegedly had ties to al-Qaeda.

He was reportedly demanding freedom for his sister, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a U.S. federal prison for trying to kill American officers in Afghanistan.

The two UK teenagers that had been arrested on Sunday in South Manchester as part of the investigation were released two days later without charge. 

(Sputnik/NAN)