Homemade bombs damage ATM at New Zealand mall

By NICK PERRY 06 August 2020, 12:00AM

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Would-be thieves apparently detonated two homemade bombs at a New Zealand mall ATM early Thursday and left other unexploded bombs behind, according to police.

Authorities closed the Chartwell Shopping Centre in Hamilton and some nearby streets while they searched the area to make sure it was safe. A military bomb disposal team was called to the site.

Police said they found several homemade explosive devices including two that appeared to have exploded. They said the bombs had damaged the ATM and the immediate area around it but hadn't injured anybody.

The ATM stood at an exterior wall of the shopping center at an ANZ bank branch.

Police initially declined say what the devices were made from or to confirm that no money had been stolen, saying they would release more details later in the day.

Yolanda Julius, who lives across from the mall, told news agency RNZ that a loud bank woke up her and her husband at about 3:45 a.m. and she saw two people wearing black clothes running across the mall’s parking lot. She said their faces were covered.

By NICK PERRY 06 August 2020, 12:00AM
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