Officers stormed an underground bunker in the US where a five-year-old boy had been held hostage for nearly a week, rescuing him and leaving his kidnapper dead.

Efforts to free a 5-year-old boy from a gunman in an underground bunker, where the man took him after killing the boy’s school bus driver, were shrouded in secrecy as the standoff in rural Alabama dragged on.

A grieving community is preparing to bury a driver murdered trying to protect children on his bus, as the police stand-off with an Alabama man accused of the killing and holding a five-year-old boy hostage continued.

A standoff in rural Alabama went into a second full day as police surrounded an underground bunker where authorities said a retired truck driver was holding a 5-year-old hostage he grabbed off a school bus after shooting the driver dead.

A gunman holding a five-year-old boy hostage in a bunker continued to keep police at bay in a siege that began when he killed a school bus driver and dragged the child away.