Atlanta: A gunman who held four Georgia firefighters hostage on Wednesday, demanding his utilities and cell phone service be restored, was killed after an exchange of gunfire with authorities who moved in to free the captives, police said. An officer was wounded and the firefighters, taken hostage after responding to what had appeared to be a medical call, suffered minor injuries during the rescue at a suburban Atlanta home, Gwinnett County police spokesman Edwin Ritter told a news conference.
The man, whom police have not identified, apparently had been in financial troubles and demanded his power, cable television and cell phone service be restored, Ritter said. "He wanted all those things turned back on," Ritter said. "That's why he was holding them hostage."
The gunman had initially also held a fifth firefighter captive in the home in Suwanee, about 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Atlanta, but let that person leave to move a fire truck, police and fire department officials said. Property records show the home is owned by Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and a Freddie Mac spokesman confirmed to WSB-TV that the property was in foreclosure.
A SWAT unit entered the house after deciding the lives of the firefighters were in imminent danger, Ritter said. During the rescue effort, the firefighters received superficial wounds from an explosive device used to disorient the suspect, and an officer sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the arm or hand, Ritter said....
07:57 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Thirteen of the 28 Indian seafarers, rescued from Somali pirates after their vessels were hijacked in 2012, reached India on Monday. Meanwhile, Puroshottam Tiwari, father of Dheeraj Tiwari who is still Hostage on MV Iceberg 1, spoke to CNN-IBN about his plight. ...
10:13 PM, Mar 18, 2013
Seven foreign hostages kidnapped last month by a Nigerian Islamist group from a construction company compound have been killed, the Italian and Greek foreign ministries said on Sunday. The al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansaru announced on Saturday that it had killed the hostages seized on February 7 in the northern state of Bauchi because of attempts by Nigerian and British forces to free them. ...
02:55 PM, Mar 11, 2013
Italy's foreign ministry said Sunday that seven foreign hostages kidnapped in northern Nigeria had been killed as claimed by Islamic extremists, the worst such foreign abduction violence to hit the turbulent West African nation in decades. Greece also confirmed one of its citizens had been killed by Ansaru, the radical group that claimed responsibility for abducting the foreigners from northern Bauchi state in February 16. ...
08:41 PM, Mar 10, 2013
Twenty eight Indian sailors held hostage by Somali pirates have been released. The sailors were on board two ships Merchant Tanker Royal Grace and Merchant Tanker Smyrni and 17 were on board the MT Royal Grace and 11 were on board the MT Smyrni. ...
03:12 PM, Mar 09, 2013
'Argo' won the Oscar for the Best Picture at the Academy Awards ceremony. The film documents the covert CIA operation that rescued six Americans during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Here are the real embassy workers who inspired the movie. ...
04:30 PM, Feb 27, 2013
A total of 37 foreign workers died at an Algerian desert gas plant and seven are still missing after a hostage crisis coordinated by a Canadian, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday. Sellal also said that 29 Islamists had been killed in the siege, which Algerian forces ended by storming the plant, and three had been captured alive. ...
10:30 PM, Jan 21, 2013
Algerian special forces have found the bodies of two Canadian Islamist fighters after a bloody siege at a desert gas plant, a security source said on Monday, as the death toll reached at least 80 after troops stormed the complex to end the hostage crisis. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal is expected to give details later on Monday about the siege near the town of In Amenas, which left American,...
04:45 PM, Jan 21, 2013
The death toll from the terrorist siege at a natural gas plant in the Sahara climbed past 80 on Sunday as Algerian forces searching the refinery for explosives found dozens more bodies, many so badly disfigured it was unclear whether they were hostages or militants, a security official said. ...
10:55 AM, Jan 21, 2013
A veteran Islamist fighter claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda for the Algerian hostage crisis, a regional website reported on Sunday, tying the bloody desert siege to France's intervention across the Sahara in Mali. ...
01:21 AM, Jan 21, 2013
Condemning the terrorist attack in Algeria, US President Barack Obama has blamed terrorists for the tragedy and said attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa. ...
10:41 AM, Jan 20, 2013
In a bloody finale, Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said. ...
09:35 AM, Jan 20, 2013
Condemning the terrorist attack in Algeria, US President Barack Obama has blamed terrorists for the tragedy and said attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa. ...
08:46 AM, Jan 20, 2013
The hostage crisis in the Sahara desert continued on Saturday with 12 hostages and 18 kidnappers dead since the Algerian army launched an assault. The militants are suspected al-Qaeda operatives. ...
07:05 PM, Jan 19, 2013
Algeria's state news agency says that special forces have completed their operation to free hostages from a remote desert natural gas complex. ...
02:04 AM, Jan 18, 2013
Four people were dead including the gunman following a hostage-taking on Saturday in Aurora, Colorado, the same town where a gunman shot dead 12 people and wounded 58 more at a movie theatre in July 2012, KUSA television reported. ...
10:29 PM, Jan 05, 2013
After nearly 32 months of being held captive on board the cargo ship MV Iceberg, five Indians sailors released by Somali pirates returned home on Saturday. ...
08:14 PM, Dec 29, 2012
Five Indian sailors aboard a German oil tanker were kidnapped by heavily armed pirates who attacked the ship in waters off Nigeria's southern coast which have become a hotbed of pirate activity. The ship's operators, Medallion Marine said on Thursday the ship SP Brussels was attacked roughly 65 kilometres off the oil-rich Niger Delta by pirates who stormed the vessel and looted it before taking five Indians hostage. ...
06:55 PM, Dec 19, 2012
A group of girl students, who had failed their Class 12 pre-board examinations held their teachers hostage at the school in Sontoshpur for 21 hours seeking reversal of the decision, but freed them on Tuesday after assurance of a review by the West Bengal Higher Secondary Council (WBHSC). ...
11:14 PM, Dec 18, 2012
Syrian rebels on Friday issued a 48 hour deadline for Iran and Syria to give in to their demands to secure the release of 48 Iranians taken hostage earlier this year. They threatened to execute the Shiite pilgrims if Tehran and Damascus did not release captured Syrian rebels within 48 hours and stop shelling. The pilgrims were abducted in August. ...
11:31 AM, Oct 06, 2012
