Aafia Siddiqui

6 Stories

10-Hour Texas Synagogue Standoff Ends

Hostages freed, captor is dead

(Newser) - Four hostages are safe and their captor is dead after an hourslong standoff that began when the man took over services at a Texas synagogue where he could be heard ranting on a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill US...

ISIS Holding American Woman, 26

Islamic State demands $7M ransom

(Newser) - The same militants who beheaded James Foley are holding a 26-year-old American woman hostage and demanding $6.6 million for her freedom, reports ABC News . The woman has not been identified at the request of her family and US officials, reports AP . She is identified only as a humanitarian relief...

Algerian Militants Tell US to Free 2 Jailed Terrorists

Report says they will free US hostages in return

(Newser) - A day after Algeria said it had wrapped up its mission to free hostages held by militants at a desert gas facility, the situation remains anything but wrapped up. By most accounts, dozens of hostages are still being held, with an unspecified number of Americans among them. Some developments:
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Taliban Offer Kidnapped Doc for MIT Terrorist

Insurgents nab Scottish aid worker, want Aafia Siddiqui in return

(Newser) - The Taliban today admitted to kidnapping a female Scottish aid worker in Afghanistan, and offered to trade her for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani ex-MIT student sentenced to 86 years in prison last week for trying to kill FBI officers. Siddiqui’s sentence set off a wave of...

Captured MIT Grad Linked to Trove of al-Qaeda Secrets

Pakistani was carrying maps, target lists—and emails

(Newser) - A suspected al-Qaeda operative arrested in Afghanistan last month could provide a treasure trove of intelligence about terrorist sleeper cells in the US and abroad, government sources tell ABC News. MIT graduate Aafia Siddiqui, 36, was captured carrying maps of New York, a list of potential targets, information on chemical...

Captured Qaeda Suspect Fires on Troops

MIT-trained Pakistani woman had been fugitive since 2003

(Newser) - An MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist with suspected al-Qaeda ties has been charged with trying to kill American soldiers and FBI agents while in custody last month, the New York Times reports. Aafia Siddiqui, who disappeared in Pakistan in 2003, turned up in Afghanistan, where she was detained for loitering suspiciously outside...

6 Stories