Man threatens bombing in Argentina near Obama visit

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A man claiming to have a bomb threatened to blow up a building 6 blocks from the Argentine presidency hours before US President Barack Obama visited it on Wednesday, March 23, witnesses said.

Police arrested the man and evacuated the building housing a state radio station, employees of the broadcaster told media. No one was reported hurt.

The man threatened to blow up the National Radio building in central Buenos Aires, where security forces were on high alert a day after deadly Islamist bombings in Brussels.

“There was a scuffle and yelling in the lobby. He got to the entrance of the studios and yelled, ‘We are going to blow you all to hell,'” one employee of the station, identified as Enrique, told television channel CN5.

“He had what looked like a detonator in his hand, with a trigger.”

Another of the company’s journalists, Eduardo Anguita, said: “He came into the radio station pretending to have a bomb belt. That caused anxiety. It was to scare people after the Brussels attacks and while Obama is here.”

Representatives of the radio station said the police detained a man in his 50s.

The station went off the air.

The building is located 6 blocks from the Casa Rosada presidential palace. Obama met there later with Argentine President Mauricio Macri. – Rappler.com