Washington - A man claiming he had a bomb strapped to his chest took two hostages Friday at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in New Hampshire, media reports said. The man released two campaign workers after several hours and began talking to police, but it was unclear whether there were more hostages in the building in Manchester, New Hampshire, television station WMUR said.
Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination, reportedly cancelled an appearance at a party meeting outside Washington, hundreds of miles away, after news of the hostage-taking.
Officials closed several schools after the hostage-taking, WMUR said. Nearby campaign offices for rival Democratic candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards were also shut down.
Witnesses said a man apparently in his 40s walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape, WMUR reported. He ordered people to lie down on the floor.
A New Hampshire state police spokesman, Michael Hambrook, said police had sent bomb disposal experts in response to reports that a man "alleged to have an explosive device on his person" entered the office.
"Our understanding is that the subject released a couple of people but that there may be other people inside the building," broadcaster Cable News Network (CNN) reported.
