SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The fiery explosion of a homemade bomb killed a man in downtown Santiago on Thursday, officials said, adding to a string of blasts in Chile’s capital.
Prosecutor Claudio Orellana initially said the man was handling the bomb when it exploded about 1 a.m., but he later opened the possibility that the man was a bystander. Witnesses posted online photos of the man in flames before he was taken to an emergency clinic where he died.
Doctors at the clinic said the man, identified as Sergio Guillermo Landskron Silva, had grave injuries as well as burns. The coroner’s office said he was 29.
The dead man’s brother, Bastian Landskron, expressed doubts that his sibling was involved in planting a bomb, saying he was a drug addict who didn’t live with the family and had no friends. Prison records show Sergio Landskron had completed a five-year sentence for theft and been free since June.
Officials say anarchist cells have planted some 200 bombs around Santiago over the past decade, including 30 so far this year. The only other fatality was also a man believed to be planting an explosive.
President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday described the bombings as “terrorist acts, but isolated.”
The explosion came two days after three alleged anarchists appeared in court and were ordered held on suspicion of planting at least four bombs, including one that injured 14 people at a shopping plaza near a subway station this month.
Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said the design of latest bomb appeared to differ with that used in the subway blast.
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