Two more injured after fourth Texas bombing
TWO people have been injured after Texas’ capital city Austin was rocked by its fourth bombing this month.
The latest device, which used a tripwire, showed a “different level of skill” to the three previous ones, according to the city’s police chief.
Brian Manley told ABC’s Good Morning America that both men who were injured in Sunday night’s explosion in the south-western Austin neighbourhood of Travis Country are white, unlike the victims in the three earlier attacks, who were black or Hispanic.
Residents were warned to remain indoors and to call police if they needed to leave their homes before 10am.
Travis Country is far from the sites of the earlier bombings, which occurred over two weeks in residential areas east of the Interstate 35 road.
At a news conference, Mr Manley repeated his warning for people to not pick up or approach suspicious packages.
He said: “We want to put out the message that we’ve been putting out and that is, not only do not touch any packages or any- thing that looks like a package, do not even go near it at this time.”
Mr Manley also said authorities had worked to “clear” a suspicious backpack found in the area that was part of a separate report. Police kept residential streets on lockdown, gradually expanding their barricades and closing off all roads into the area. Before daybreak, Austin police sent another alert to mobile phones, advising residents to continue staying indoors and to call police if they needed to leave their homes before 10am.
Austin’s school district announced that buses would not be going into the Travis Country area because of police activity and that any absences “due to this situation” will be excused.
The two men injured on Sunday are in their 20s and are white. Police said they were tak- en to hospital with non-lifethreatening injuries.
The first of the four explosions to hit Austin this month was caused by a package bomb that detonated at a house in the city’s north-east on March 2, killing a 39-year-old man. Two more package bombs then exploded farther south on March 12, killing a 17-year-old, wounding his mother and injuring a 75-year-old woman.