Boy rescued, kidnapper dead in Alabama

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.

Steve Richardson of the FBI's office in Mobile, Alabama, said that negotiations had deteriorated with 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes.

Dykes, who a week earlier had abducted the child from a school bus after fatally shooting the driver, had been seen with a gun.

Officers believed the boy was in imminent danger, Mr Richardson said, and stormed the bunker to rescue the child, who was taken to a hospital in nearby Dothan.

However, it was not immediately clear how Dykes died.

Daryle Hendry, who lives about 400 yards from where Dykes' bunker was located, said he heard a boom, followed by what sounded like a gunshot, around the time officials said they stormed the bunker.

Neighbours described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm.

The crisis in Alabama unfolded amid a divisive nationwide debate over gun control and the safety of schoolchildren after the December shooting that killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school.

President Barack Obama travelled to Minnesota yesterday to rally the public and law enforcement community behind his calls to ban assault weapons and install universal background checks for gun buyers.

Gun supporters remain firmly opposed to tighter laws, arguing that gun ownership is a basic right enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

Government records and interviews with neighbours indicate that Dykes joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969.

His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance.

He had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The charge was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving on to a rural site about 100 yards from his nearest neighbours.

Ronda Wilbur, a neighbour of Dykes who said the man beat her dog to death last year with a pipe, said she was relieved to be done with the stress of knowing Dykes was patrolling his yard and willing to shoot at anyone or anything that trespassed.

"The nightmare is over. It's been a long couple of years of having constant stress," she said.

Authorities have said Dykes gunned down 66-year-old bus driver Albert Poland before taking the boy from the bus.

Poland, who was buried on Sunday, has been hailed as a hero for protecting the other nearly two-dozen children on board from harm.

"This man was a true hero who was willing to give up his life so others might live," Governor Robert Bentley said after learning of the boy's rescue.