A fourth explosion in less than a month has hit Austin, Texas, with police hunting for what they believe to be a "serial bomber" or bombers with all of the incidents believed to be linked.
Police said that the cause of the latest explosion is believed to have been triggered by a tripwire in the Travis County neighbourhood of the city. Police have appealed for video surveillance footage from residents and called on them to stay clear of any suspicious packages. They have also called on all those in the areas to stay in their homes so the scene of the Sunday night blast can be fully investigated.
The two victims of the latest explosion are two white males, in their 20s who are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley asked the city “to have an extra level of vigilance and pay attention to any suspicious device whether it be a package, a bag, a backpack, anything that looks out of place and do not approach it”.
How many bombings have there been and where?
Four explosions have taken place in March alone, all using packages not delivered by the US Postal Service nor any other US mail carrier service, police said.
The first was on 2 March when a package was delivered to the northwest Austin home of Stephan House, 39, who later died from his injuries in hospital.
On 12 March another package bomb was sent to the home of Draylen Mason, aged just 17, killing him. The package exploded in the kitchen of his east Austin house just 12 miles from the previous explosion.
That same day, just five hours after the bomb killed Draylen, another package bomb exploded at the home of a 75-year-old Hispanic woman called Esperanze Morena Herrera in the southeastern part of the city. She was treated for her injuries.
On 18 March, the most recent package bomb exploded in the western part of the city, injuring two. The package exploded in the street itself, not inside a home like the others.
The latest blast demonstrated what police said was a “higher level of sophistication” than the package bombs used in the previous three attacks.
Who are the victims?
Mr House about an hour after the 2 March blast that occurred on the front porch. Police had been cautious in ruling it a homicide at the time, unsure if Mr House himself had constructed the explosive device inside the package.
Mr House and Draylen were members of a close-knit African-American church community and their families reportedly knew each other, NBC News reported.
Both were parishioners at the Wesley United Methodist Church, an organisation founded over 150 years ago by freed slaves.
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