Taiwan election shooting suspect dead

An unemployed man who is believed to be the most likely suspect for last year's election-eve shooting on Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, committed suicide days after the attack.

Investigators say the suspect, Chen Yi-hsiung, was likely motivated by dissatisfaction with the Chen Shui-bian Government.

They say he left behind a suicide note saying he wanted to kill himself to relieve the burden on his family.

"By tracing the bullets, Chen Yi-hsiung is the most likely suspect," Hou Yu-ih, commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, said.

"The papers that he left behind indicated he was unhappy with current social affairs."

Two bullets from a home-made gun lightly gashed President Chen on the abdomen and wounded Vice-President Annette Lu in the right knee as they campaigned in an open-top jeep in the southern city of Tainan on March 19.

President Chen won a second four-year term by a razor-thin margin the day after the attack.

Opposition parties have said they suspect the attack might have been staged for sympathy votes.

Police interrogated Chen Yi-hsiung before he died because he bore similarities to a balding man in a yellow jacket, who was seen leaving the scene shortly after the shooting.

Mr Hou would not say that the shooting case was solved, but said: "The direction is already very, very clear."

- Reuters