Man sets himself on fire in Washington

A man has been flown to hospital after setting himself on fire on the National Mall in Washington DC.

Fire crews responded to a report of a man on fire at 7th Street and Madison Drive, and DC Fire Department spokesman Tim Wilson said the man has life-threatening injuries.

His name and age are not yet known.

Bystander Katy Scheflen said she was walking along the Mall when she saw a man by himself pick up a can of petrol and empty its contents on his head before setting himself ablaze.

She said passing joggers took off their shirts to help douse the flames.

It came the day after a woman was shot dead by police outside the Capitol building in Washington when she tried to drive through barricades outside the White House.

Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Connecticut, held the delusional belief that president Barack Obama was communicating with her, a federal law enforcement official said.

A car chase unfolded after she rammed the barricades, briefly shuttering the chambers where federal lawmakers were debating how to end a government shutdown, and stirring fresh panic in a city where a gunman killed 12 people two weeks ago.

A one-year-old girl was in the car, though she avoided serious injury and was taken into protective custody.