German Letter Bomber Blows Himself Up

A German man who had sent letter bombs to nine officials in the southern region of Bavaria has committed suicide, a day before he was set to undergo a police DNA test, police said on Saturday, according to news agency AFP. The 22-year-old blew himself up on Friday by detonating a gas bottle in a field near Hutthurm, a Bavarian town where investigators had been testing 2,300 residents for a possible link to the explosive packages. Police had already carried out some 600 DNA tests when news surfaced of the man's death. DNA analysis revealed the young man, who was unemployed and lived on the family farm in Hutturm, to be the sender of the exploding letters. The packages targeted regional officials of both the Christian Social Union (CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) as well as the Polish consul in the city of Munich, between April and August this year. All were detected before they could wreak any damage, except one which slightly injured a municipal worker in the southern town of Regen in August. Police warned that the suspect could have sent more letters before committing suicide, advising officials to be on their guard in coming days.