Hostage drama at Hillary's campaign office ends peacefully

NEW YORK: A man claiming to be armed with bomb seized five hostages, including a baby, at Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign office in New Hampshire state of the US before surrendering to police peacefully to end a tense five-hour stand-off.

47-year old Lee Eisenberg, said to be mentally unstable, walked into the building in Rochester, about 450 km from here, on Friday. Claiming that he had a bomb strapped to his body, he took five hostages, including three women and a six-month-old baby.

Eisenberg, who released the baby along with mother almost immediately, was quoted as saying by the media that he wanted to talk to Clinton to complain about his mental health treatment.

The woman, who was released, rushed to a nearby store and told the employees that they need to call police immediately as a man had walked into Clinton' office, opened his coat to show duct tapes and claimed he had a bomb strapped to his chest.

Nobody was hurt and after Eisenberg was taken into custody, police said he had nothing more than road flares taped to his chest, the media reported.

Hillary Clinton was never in danger as she was in Washington DC all along but it brought to halt her campaign just weeks before the crucial primary in New Hampshire State, which is scheduled for
January 8.

She expressed her gratefulness that the hostage drama had ended peacefully and all hostages were released without harm.

"All my campaign staff are safe. I want to thank them for their extraordinary courage and coolness under some very difficult pressures and dangerous situations," she said in Washington.