Fifteen people were wounded yesterday when a disgruntled customer ignited a shopping cart filled with gasoline cans and fireworks at a branch of an Australian insurance company, police said.
Witnesses said the man wheeled the makeshift bomb into the insurance office in the northern city of Darwin and set it ablaze, leaving passersby with cuts, burns and smoke inhalation injuries. Two people were in serious condition.
“Once we cleared the area of smoke we found a shopping trolley with three jerry cans and a strong smell of fuel, and also firecrackers spread throughout the area,” a fire and rescue service spokesman said. “The firecrackers were part of what could loosely be called an explosive device.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
A man surrendered himself at the nearby Darwin Police Station shortly after the attack and was taken into custody, Commander Rob Kendrick said.
“I understand that there may have been a shopping trolley wheeled in by the person of interest, but that will be subject to investigation,” Kendrick told reporters.
The blast sent shoppers fleeing from a nearby supermarket and prompted the evacuation of the mall in Darwin’s main commercial street, as crowds of onlookers gathered.
Shopper Louisa Ainsworth said she was inside the supermarket when she started hearing “all this crashing and banging, sort of like a roof was collapsing and sort of like a little explosion.”
“We just went outside and saw all the smoke and people screaming and running out of TIO [the Territory Insurance Office],” Ainsworth told public radio.
Another witness, Charmaine Burton, said she heard “15 to 20 repetitive [bangs] almost like gunshots” and there was “a diesel fuel sort of smell” coming from the site.
Police ruled out an extremist attack, saying the culprit appeared to be an unhappy customer of the insurance company.
“I can confirm he was a dissatisfied claimant,” Commander Colleen Gwynne said. “This is not a terrorist incident.”
“In hindsight, I think we’re very fortunate all round that we haven’t lost any lives,” she said. “This is an isolated incident by a dissatisfied customer and it was an extremely callous act on his part.”
Ambulance officials said 13 people were taken to Royal Darwin Hospital with injuries ranging from “minor cuts to burns and smoke inhalation,” while another two travelled there independently.
Witnesses said they saw a man push a shopping cart loaded with cans of fuel and fireworks into the insurance company office.
“My son-in-law came out, he turned around and saw this tall skinny guy walk in with a trolley full of fuel and firecrackers and set it off,” an unnamed person told public radio.
“He said he stood there for a minute and watched it catch fire and then took off,” the person said.
TIO chief executive Richard Harding said that the company had “recently had dealings with a dissatisfied claimant, and that this matter was referred to police and appropriate TIO security protocols put in place.”
Six of the injured were TIO staff, including the two people who were seriously hurt, Harding said, adding that security had now been beefed up at all of the company’s offices and branches.
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