Fresh bomb scare close to US Capitol

Washington, Aug. 19: A man sitting in a black pickup truck outside the Library of Congress told the police on Thursday that he had a bomb, prompting a massive law enforcement response to determine whether it was an operable device, law enforcement authorities said. The police evacuated multiple buildings around the Capitol after officers observed the man holding what appeared to be a detonator, US Capitol police chief J. Thomas Manger said. The man’s name was not immediately disclosed.

Police negotiators were communicating with him as he wrote notes and showed them to authorities from inside the truck, according to three people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“My negotiators are hard at work trying to have a peaceful resolution to this incident,” Mr Manger said. “We’re trying to get as much information as we can to find a way to peacefully resolve this.”

The episode began about 9.15 am when the truck drove up the sidewalk outside the library, Manger said. The driver told the responding officer that he had a bomb, and was holding what the officer believed to be a detonator, The truck had no license plates. The police sent snipers to the area near the Capitol and Supreme Court and evacuated multiple buildings on the sprawling Capitol complex. The Congress is in recess this week, but staffers were seen calmly walking out of the area at the direction of authorities.

The nation’s capital has been tense since the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.