Texas bombing suspect blows self up as police close in, Sierra Leone: Violence fears as tense official says election reaches runoff
US - The 24-year-old man who terrified residents of Austin, Texas, with a threeweek bombing campaign that killed two people blew himself up on the side of a highway north of the city as police closed in on him early yesterday, police officials said.
Police had tracked the suspect to a hotel near Austin, the state’s capital city, and were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters near the scene.
“The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle”, Manley told reporters. He said the suspect was white but declined to give his name. Manley said the suspect was believed to be responsible for six bombs around Austin, including five that detonated, since March 2. He said what motivated the bombing campaign or whether the suspect had help was not yet known. Most important, Manley warned that it was not clear whether any more bombs had been left in place around the city.
The series of bombings killed two people and injured at least five others, unnerving residents of Austin, a city of some 1 million people. The first bombings occurred as the state capital was hosting the annual South By Southwest music, film and technology festival.
Police found the suspect at a hotel in Round Rock, Texas, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Austin. While officers were waiting for reinforcements to make an arrest, the suspect left the hotel and police followed him.
The suspect pulled off the city’s main highway and two Austin police officers were approaching his vehicle when he set off his device. One officer fired at the vehicle and the other sustained a minor injury when the bomb went off, Manley said. (Reuters) SIERRA LEONE - The results of the first round of elections in Sierra Leone have set off a spate of political violence amid accusations of tribalism made against both main parties. Police have sent an extra 4,000 officers on to the streets and diplomats have called for an end to “tribal rhetoric” after at least five violent incidents involving beatings, stone-throwing and arson, and after politicians had criticised voters for “regionalism” – seen as a euphemism for tribalism – in deciding how to vote. The main opposition, the Sierra Leone People’s party (SLPP), won slightly more votes than the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) in the first round of a historically peaceful election on 7 March and the two parties have been trying to win over voters ahead of the runoff next week, causing growing tension in the west African country. After the presidential spokesman Abdulai Baratay suggested on state radio last week that more SLPP supporters than APC ones had voted along tribal lines – language he later denied using – there was an increase in the number of violent incidents. The APC candidate, Samura Kamara, said that supporters of the SLPP candidate, Julius Maada Bio, had thrown stones at him and that when he stopped at a bar en route to a rally last week they burned it down shortly after he had left. Police confirmed that there had been street brawls between supporters of the APC and the SLPP in the capital, Freetown, and that candidates from both sides had had their houses and cars set on fire by ‘youths’. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, who won an SLPP seat in west Freetown, said that he had been attacked twice while campaigning but the police had stood by and done nothing, even after he had taken a suspect to the police station. “The police made no arrests and I was smuggled out of the station in police uniform so no one would recognise me”, he said. “As I’m talking to you now I can’t come out, I’m in hiding. I’m struggling to get my family out because I’ve heard rumours they’re going to make an attempt on my home today. “I’m so scared for myself and my family and I don’t know what is going to happen next. I fear that they’re just going to keep coming until I’m dead.” Pa Alhaji, an APC politician in east Freetown, said that opposition youths had stormed his compound on Sunday and attempted to burn down his house. Black streaks from the fire stretched up the side of the building and his car was a burnt-out shell.
(The Guardian)