05 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2019 world Brazil bus hijacker shot dead by police

5:30 am (0830 GMT) and began Around 31 people threatening passengers. • Around four hours later a had remained on the sniper shot dead the hijacker. bus throughout the Several lanes of traffic on the terrifying ordeal busy Rio-Niteroi bridge span- ning Guanabara Bay were para- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil lyzed during the hostage situ- ation. Commuters stopped on the gunman holding a bus- bridge could be seen standing load of passengers hos- outside their cars and taking Atage in Rio de Janeiro photos with their smartphones. yesterday was shot dead by po- Rio state Governor Wilson lice, officials said, ending the Witzel tweeted that he was fol- hours-long hijacking. lowing the situation and was in Dozens of people were direct contact with the military trapped on the bus after it was police commander. commandeered by the gunman “The absolute priority is the on a heavily transited bridge protection of hostages,” Witzel connecting Rio with the neigh- said. bouring city of Niteroi. The gunman -- a young man At least six people -- four wearing a white T-shirt and women and two men -- were dark-colored trousers -- poked freed. his head out of the bus at one Around 31 people had re - point, showing his face, G1 re- mained on the bus throughout ported. the terrifying ordeal. The identity of the hijacker Heavily armed police includ- has not been released. ing military and snipers had sur- It is not clear if he made rounded the bus as they negoti- any demands or what his mo- ated with the gunman, who G1 Aerial footage on the Rio-Niteroi Bridge, where armed police surrounded a hijacked passenger bus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Still Image from RECORD TV video) tivation was for taking the news reported had been armed hostages. with a gun, a tazer and gasoline. Police special forc - “This is the police that we es had negotiated with the want to see,” a military police hijacker. spokesman told local media. “We ask the population to “It was necessary for the snip- stay calm. Our police are at the er to neutralise (the hijacker) scene,” military police tweeted. and save people on the bus. This is not the first time a gun- “He (hijacker) died at the man has hijacked a public transit scene.” bus in Rio. None of the hostages were in- In 2000, a gunman stormed jured, police said. a passenger bus in a fashion - A live broadcast of the situa- able neighborhood of the city. tion showed several ambulances The hours long hijacking of bus parked near the bus, receiving 174 was later turned into an hostages as they were released. award-winning documentary. The gunman reportedly Drivers wait for the traffic to be reopened near the area where a gunman The hijacker and one hostage boarded the Rio-bound bus at holding a bus Police officers stand guard near the area were killed.

Toll from attack on Burkina military Donald becomes grandfather for 10th time base rises to 24 New York, United States Ouagadougou, Burkina S President Faso Uhas become a grandfather for the 10th time after his son he death toll from an Eric’s wife Lara gave birth to Tattack Monday on a a girl. military base in northern “@LaraLeaTrump and I are Burkina Faso rose to 24, the excited to welcome Carolina military said, in an unprece- Dorothy Trump into the world. dented blow to the army in We love you already!” the pres- its campaign against jihadist ident’s son tweeted minutes be- insurgents. fore Monday midnight. Seven people were It is the couple’s second child wounded and five others -- their first, Eric Luke Trump, missing, armed forces head- turns two years old in Septem- quarters said in a statement ber. The 73-year-old president Tuesday. has five children from three dif- The previous toll from ferent women. the attack, at Koutougou His two oldest children, Don- in Soum province near the ald Jr. and Ivanka, have respec- border with Mali, had been tively five and three children. given late Monday as “more , 35, is the presi- than a dozen”. dent’s third child. He is a senior An “extraordinary meet- executive at The Trump Organ- ing of the defence council” ization along with his brother was underway at the presi- Donald Jr. dential palace in the capital Lara Trump, 36, a former jour- Ouagadougou, a security nalist, is involved in animal wel- source told AFP. fare and along with her husband The country’s main oppo- manages the Eric Trump Foun- sition party, the Union for dation, which finances hospitals Progress and Change (UPC), for children. said the government ap - She is also a senior official pointed by President Roch on the Trump 2020 re-election Marc Christian Kabore had campaign, and is often on TV de- US President Donald Trump, First Lady , their son Barron, and the parents of First Lady Melania Trump Amalija Knavs (back L) and Viktor Knavs (back “completely failed”. fending the president’s policies. R) return to the White House after two weeks spent at Trump’s golf club in New Jerseyin Washington, DC.