COLLEYVILLE, Texas — Updated 12:51 p.m. Tuesday
As the investigation into the hostage situation at a Colleyville synagogue continues, officials say two teens who were arrested in connection to the incident have been released.
In a statement just before 5:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, the Greater Manchester Police Department said the Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) North West group arrested two teenagers in South Manchester in connection to the North Texas incident.
The two teenagers were being questioned and they were released without charge, the police department said Tuesday. An address in North Manchester was searched as a part of the CTP North West investigation.
"CTP North West is continuing to assist with the investigation which is being led by U.S. authorities," said Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Dominic Scally in a statement. "Overnight, constructive meetings with colleagues from the United States have taken place."
Further details such as the teens' possible connection have not been released.
On Sunday, the FBI's field office in Dallas identified the suspect in the incident as Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen. He was originally from the Blackburn area of Lancashire, the police department said. Further information on Akram was not released by the FBI.
During a Saturday evening news conference, Matthew DeSarno of FBI Dallas said that it appeared the incident was not targeted toward the Jewish community.
The hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel, which lasted nearly 12 hours, ended shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday with all three of the remaining hostages making it out safe. A fourth hostage had been released hours before authorities said a rescue team "breached the synagogue."
While the standoff was going on, the FBI was working on finding out more information about the British national.
“Very quickly we realized, there is probably more to this than a British connection than we liked,” said Richard Hyde, Consulate General of the U.K., told WFAA Sunday.
“We were very much in the background, feeding, and helping to validate information, to reinforce what they thought was the situation. To give them as much clarity as possible,” he said.
U.K. officials gave the U.S. clarity about Akram, and his travels to and from the U.K.
Officials said Akram died at the scene, but it is still unclear how he died, as further information was not immediately released.
The rescue team, police said, was a special operations group from the FBI that flew into North Texas from Quantico, Virginia.
During a Saturday evening news conference, Colleyville police and FBI officials said around 200 law enforcement officers from neighboring police departments, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI were involved in the situation.
Questions, such as the suspect's motive, remain as the investigation is still in the early stages. DeSarno said Saturday that the investigation would have "global reach."