Officials in Alabama said on Monday they had launched an investigation into the detonation of an explosive device outside the office of the state’s attorney general at the weekend.
“Thankfully, no staff or personnel were injured by the explosion. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will be leading the investigation, and we are urging anyone with information to contact them immediately,” the attorney general, Steve Marshall, said in a statement.
The explosion occurred early on Saturday morning, and the statement gave no other details. The extent of any property damage is not yet known.
Marshall has recently become embroiled in controversy following last week’s decision by Alabama’s supreme court that embryos created by in vitro fertilization are “extrauterine children”, a decision that has effectively halted IVF treatments in the state as providers fearful of prosecution have shuttered operations.
Politicians from all parties have widely condemned the ruling. At the weekend, Marshall’s representatives tried to calm the situation.
“Attorney General Marshall has no intention of using the recent Alabama supreme court decision as a basis for prosecuting IVF families or providers,” Katherine Robertson, chief counsel in the Alabama attorney general’s office, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, an Alabama judge remained in hospital on Monday after he was shot at his Montgomery county home the same day. Johnny Hardwick, presiding judge of the 15th judicial circuit, underwent surgery following Saturday’s shooting.
The judge’s son, Khalfani Hardwick, was arrested in connection with the attack. There was no immediate indication the shooting was linked with the explosion at Marshall’s office.
