8 injured after man attacks Colorado crowd with firebombs

At least eight people have been injured after a 45-year-old man threw incendiary devices at demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, during a rally held to remember Israeli hostages held in Gaza, authorities said.

Eight victims aged between 52 and 88 years were transported to hospitals, the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver Field Office, Mark Michalek, said. At least one of them was in a critical condition, authorities said.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said it appeared to be "a hate crime given the group that was targetted".

Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said he did not believe anyone else was involved. "We're fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody," he said.

The attack took place on the Pearl Street Mall, a popular pedestrian shopping district in the shadow of the University of Colorado, during an event organised by Run for Their Lives, an organisation devoted to drawing attention to the hostages seized in the aftermath of Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel.

Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old at the University of Colorado who witnessed the Boulder incident, said she saw four women lying or sitting on the ground with burns on their legs. One of them appeared to have been badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag by someone, she said.

The attack follows last month's arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C.