🚨Rabbi and three others taken hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, TX

[Nevilledog]

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Aaron Katersky
@AaronKatersky
One suspect has taken the rabbi and three others hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, TX. The hostage-taker is claiming to be armed and says his sister is Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted in New York of trying to kill US military personnel
1:21 PM · Jan 15, 2022

[Nevilledog]

1. ...

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Colleyville Police
@ColleyvillePD
·
Jan 15, 2022
We are currently conducting SWAT operations around the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Rd. All residents in the immediate area are being evacuated. Please avoid the area.

Colleyville Police
@ColleyvillePD
UPDATE 1/15/22, 2:20 PM The situation at the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Road posted about earlier remains ongoing. We ask that you continue to avoid the area. We will continue to provide updates via social media.
1:22 PM · Jan 15, 2022

[Budi]

2. Lady al Qaeda: The World's Most Wanted Woman

Lady al Qaeda: The World’s Most Wanted Woman
The Taliban wanted to trade Bergdahl for her. The Islamic State offered to swap Foley. Why does every jihadi group want the U.S. to free Aafia Siddiqui?

*ARTICLE FROM 2014
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/26/lady-al-qaeda-the-worlds-most-wanted-woman/
Two years ago, a group of senior U.S. national security officials received a tantalizing proposal from officials in Pakistan. If the United States would release a Pakistani woman serving a lengthy prison sentence in Texas for attempted murder, Islamabad would try to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been missing since 2009 and was thought to be held in Pakistan by Taliban forces.

According to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the proposal, President Barack Obama’s national security advisors swiftly rejected the offer.
To free the prisoner, Aafia Siddiqui, who’s linked to al Qaeda and was convicted in 2010 of attempting to kill Americans in Afghanistan, would violate the administration’s policy of not granting concessions to terrorist groups, the officials concluded. It would also put a potentially dangerous fighter back on the street.

Siddiqui, 42, who’s known in counterterrorism circles as "Lady al Qaeda," has been linked to 9/11 ringleader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and was once on the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists list. Educated in the United States — she studied at M.I.T. and received a doctorate from Brandeis — Siddiqui was arrested in 2008 in Afghanistan carrying sodium cyanide, as well as documents describing how to make chemical weapons and dirty bombs and how to weaponize Ebola. When FBI and military officials tried to question Siddiqui, she grabbed a weapon left on the table in her interrogation room and fired upon them.

Although U.S. officials never seriously considered trading Siddiqui, she has been a perennial bargaining chip for terrorists and Islamist militants who’ve made her release a condition for freeing a number of American and European prisoners over the years.

The militants had repeatedly threatened to execute Bergdahl if Siddiqui wasn’t set free. And the Islamic State terrorists who murdered American journalist James Foley last week had demanded Siddiqui’s release to spare his life.
More..

WOW.
I Fear for the hostages lives.

[SheltieLover]

4. Hoping hostages are safe!

[ck4829]

16. "Grabbed a weapon left on the table"... I'm sorry, but some real brain trusts right there

The details on what led to that just have to be interesting.

I’ve also read she’s housed in a mental health unit these days. Quite a stark contrast with her being the “most dangerous woman in the world”.

[Nevilledog]

3. More

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MSNBC
@MSNBC
DEVELOPING: Police near Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, say they are "currently conducting SWAT operations" at a synagogue, prompting the evacuation of residents in the area.

msnbc.com
Texas police 'conducting SWAT operations' in response to incident at a synagogue
Police in Colleyville, Texas, are "currently conducting SWAT operations" at a local synagogue, prompting the evacuation of residents in the area.
1:46 PM · Jan 15, 2022

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Amarnath Amarasingam
@AmarAmarasingam
This is pretty big if confirmed. Different militant groups in the past have tried to get her freed:

Taliban tried to trade a British aid worker for her in 2010 and Swiss citizens in 2011. Zawahiri called for her release in 2011. ISIS in 2014 also offered to James Foley for her.

Aaron Katersky
@AaronKatersky
One suspect has taken the rabbi and three others hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, TX. The hostage-taker is claiming to be armed and says his sister is Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted in New York of trying to kill US military personnel
1:43 PM · Jan 15, 2022

[RB TexLa]

5. They also aren't reporting the activity at Carswell Federal Medical Prison in Fort Worth

Where she is being held.

[Nevilledog]

6. What's going on there?

[RB TexLa]

7. Lot's of security and FBI

And people are saying he's demanding her release.

[Nevilledog]

8. Hasn't seen that. Kinda confirms reports of suspect trying to get her released.

[RB TexLa]

9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reporters were very close to confirming it on MSNBC

Never used names but said he wanted to talk to his sister. Then said they were working to confirm things.

[Nevilledog]

10. Saw that it was being live-streamed at first. Camera was obscured, just audio.

[RB TexLa]

13. MSNBC finally reported it's him.

[JohnnyLib2]

11. Horrifying in many ways.

Hoping, hoping for safe release.

[rockfordfile]

14. I agree

[Hekate]

12. KnR

[fishwax]

15. horrible -- hoping for a swift and safe resolution

[blogslug]

17. UPDATE: One hostage has been released

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article257360862.html

...Shortly after 5 p.m., a male hostage was released uninjured, Colleyville police said. The man will be reunited with his family soon and doesn’t require medical attention, police said...

Also: https://www.thedailybeast.com/hostage-situation-unfolds-at-congregation-beth-israel-synagogue-in-colleyville-texas-during-facebook-lives

...By Saturday night, Siddiqui and her family had chimed in to call on the “wicked” suspect to give himself up.

Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence at a federal prison in Fort Worth after being convicted in New York of trying to assassinate U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, released a statement through her lawyer directly addressing the hostage-taker and urging him to stand down.

Marwa Elbially, an attorney for Siddiqui, told The Daily Beast the 49-year-old inmate had one message for the hostage taker: “She would tell this individual to immediately release the hostages. She does not condone or accept anything that would lead to harm of any other human being.”

Her family released a similar statement, denouncing the hostage-taking.

“We want the hostage-taker to know that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and her family strongly condemn this act and do not stand by you. This assailant has nothing to do with Dr. Aafia, her family, or the global campaign to get justice for Dr. Aafia. We want the assailant to know that his actions are wicked and directly undermine those of us who are seeking justice for Dr. Aafia,” the statement said...

[MerryBlooms]

18. This gives me hope. n/t