UK police said on Wednesday that they had arrested two more men in connection with the Texas synagogue hostage situation that transpired around a week earlier in the US.

Both arrests took place in the city of Manchester, said the Greater Manchester Police, adding that officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West were working in tandem with US law enforcement officials for the investigation into the hostage taker Malik Faisal Akram and his associates.

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Police in the UK had earlier arrested four people, two Manchester teenagers and a man each from Birmingham and Manchester, in connection with the investigation. The teens were subsequently let off without any charges.

The hostage situation took place at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on January 15. Around 11am local time, a man from the UK, Malik Faisal Akram, entered the synagogue and took four people, including the rabbi, hostage.

Akram was heard demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist and convicted terrorist serving an 86-year prison sentence Federal Medical Center, Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas, for attempting to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.

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Around six hours into the standoff, one hostage was released unharmed, while the rest managed to escape several hours later. The hostage taker, Akram, was gunned down by a SWAT team that stormed the building in an attempt to rescue the hostages.

Authorities believe Akram arrived in New York City’s JFK International Airport two weeks earlier and made his way to Texas, where the hostage situation unfolded. Akram, who had a criminal record in the UK and had been on a MI5 watchlist earlier, managed to get his hands on a handgun “on the street” shortly after his arrival.