IRVING -- An Irving mother remained behind bars Tuesday, accused in the strangulation of her 5-year-old son and choking her 2-year-old daughter, police said.

Saiqa Akhter called 911 Monday afternoon to report that she had hurt her two children at the family’s Irving apartment, police said.

Police did not release any details about a motive.

Akhter, 30, was taken into custody after police went to the Wind Tree Apartments in the 3300 block of Esters Road and found two children who had apparently been choked, police said.

She was in the Irving City Jail Tuesday on suspicion of capital murder of a child under the age of 6.

The Irving mother called 911 about 5 p.m. Monday.

When police arrived, officers immediately began trying to resuscitate both children until paramedics arrived, according to a news release from Irving police.

The children’s father was not home at the time, but he was contacted shortly after police arrived, said Irving officer David Tull, a police spokesman, on Tuesday.

Zain Akhter was pronounced dead at Baylor Medical Center at Irving. His sister, Faryaal Akhter, 2, was in critical condition at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.

Neighbor Jean Hyams, who lives across a narrow parking lot from the family’s apartment, said paramedics carried the children in their arms and officers escorted their mother out in handcuffs and put her in a patrol car.

Hyams said she thought that it was strange that she had never seen the children or their mother outside. She said she would have noticed, because she “keeps an eye out on things around here,” she said, adding that the family had lived there about a month.

Staff writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. contributed to this report.

Terry Evans, 817-390-7620

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