Brazil: attacker detonates two explosions and dies after failed attempt against the Supreme Court

A man loaded with explosives died Wednesday after trying to enter Brazil's Supreme Federal Court through the famed Plaza dos Três Poderes, in Brasilia, the capital. The attack came ahead of Brazil's hosting next week of the G20 leaders' summit in Rio de Janeiro and a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Brasilia.

"First there was the explosion" of a car. Then, "a citizen approached the Supreme Federal Court, tried to enter, didn't make it and the explosion occurred at the door," the acting governor of Brasilia, Celina Leao, told a news conference.

Preliminary information is that it was a "suicide," Leao added. "We are confident it is a lone wolf."

According to a civil police document released by Globonews network, the perpetrator of the failed attack is Francisco Wanderley Luiz, who also was the owner of the vehicle that exploded.

Leao had previously stated that identification was delayed because the body was found with "artifacts on it."

Wanderley was a candidate for councilman for the Liberal Party of former president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2020 municipal elections.

The explosions occurred very close together around 7:30 pm local time (22:30 GMT) and left no one injured.

The headquarters of the Supreme Federal Court is in the Three Powers Square, where the Palacio de Planalto, seat of the Presidency, and the Congress are also located.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had already left Planalto at the time of the explosions, a presidential spokesman told AFP news agency.

"Fire and smoke came out"

"I was at the stop and the man passed (...) Out of nowhere I simply heard a noise, I looked back, at the moment of the noise, and fire and smoke came out. The STF security guards arrived," Laiana Costa, an administrative employee of the Union Court of Auditors, reported to local media.

Sergeant Rodrigo Santos explained that several agents were making rounds when they saw a car on fire.

"The individual ran out from inside the vehicle." It was the same person who later died, he confirmed to local media.

The car had "a kind of bomb, several fractional explosives, tied with bricks," added the sergeant, who said that congressional staff came out with fire extinguishers and helped put out the fire.

The supreme court said in a statement that "at the end of the session (...) two loud booms were heard and the ministers were safely removed from the building."

The presidential palace was closed and the entire area fenced off, while a large security deployment unfolded in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, an AFP photographer noted.

The Federal Police reported that it opened an investigation to clarify the origin of "the attacks."