Shock in Brazil: Authorities investigating Supreme Court bomb attack as 'terrorist act'

Blast which were set off outside of the Brazilian supreme court are now being investigated by security authorities as a potential terrorist act.

Blasts outside the Supreme Court in the capital Brasília are being treated as a "terrorist act," federal police director Andrei Passos Rodrigues said Thursday.

The two explosions, set off by a man who died during a failed attack late Wednesday, could have also been a violent attempt to overthrow "democratic rule of law," Rodrigues told a news conference.

"This is not an isolated act," he warned, adding that the attack was planned over a long period.

The perpetrator was identified as Francisco Wanderley Luiz, a 59-year-old member of the far-right Partido Liberal (PL) of former president Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters in January 2023 sought to violently take control of democratic institutions in Brasília after the return to power of left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Around 7.30pm (2230 GMT) local time on Wednesday, Luiz drove a bomb-laden car towards the Supreme Court, according to officials. 

After fuses in the car caught fire, causing an initial blast that did not set off attached explosives, Luiz was seen exiting the vehicle and running towards the court entrance.

Seconds later, another blast occurred, killing Luiz in front of the court. His body, found to be carrying what appeared to be a detonator, lay on the ground overnight until specialist police rendered it safe to be removed early Thursday.

Authorities said Luiz had been a candidate for Bolsonaro's PL in local elections in 2020, but did not win a mandate. 

Luiz had been present in Brasília on January 8, 2023 when Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Supreme Court, the Congress and the presidential palace in Brasília, but it was not known if he had taken part in the insurrection, according to Rodrigues.

The buildings of those three branches of government front onto a square called the Praca dos Tres Poderes ("The Place of the Three Powers"), which was the scene of Wednesday night's failed bomb attack.

Rodrigues said Luiz had for several months been renting a place at a "strategic point" near the court building. 

Inside, investigators found a message apparently voicing support in violent terms for the 2023 insurrection.

"We still do not know the motives of the crime," the police chief said.

While the attack was being treated as the actions of Luiz alone, he added that "the extremists are active."

Bolsonaro on Thursday denounced the attack, calling it a "sad episode."

In a social media post, he said dialogue was needed for "the defense of democracy and liberty."

– TIMES/AFP