US police say they have arrested the leader of an armed militia which occupied a wildlife refuge in Oregon, with one person killed in a shoot-out.
Ammon Bundy and four others were arrested during a traffic stop, police said. One person was injured.
Two other activists connected to the group were later arrested in separate incidents, also in Oregon.
The self-proclaimed militia led by Mr Bundy occupied the refuge earlier this month in support of two local ranchers.
Other members of the group were reportedly still at the refuge, where the FBI was setting up a perimeter.
Violence was always a possibility – analysis by James Cook, US west coast correspondent, BBC News
On Oregon’s snowy plains, over the past few weeks, there has been some sympathy for the leaders of the occupation. Many people in the little town of Burns said they understood the militia’s message about federal government “interference.”
Washington DC is not popular with ranchers in Harney County who accuse it of failing to respect a distinct way of life but there was also hostility to the tactics employed by Ammon Bundy and his followers.
Armed militiamen rumbling in and out of town to gather supplies made residents nervous. So too did the presence of the FBI. The community had repeatedly asked the militia to leave but law enforcement officials had come in for criticism too, accused of passivity in the face of flagrant criminality.
In recent days the pressure had mounted, with Oregon’s governor Kate Brown writing to the White House to demand federal action to end the stand-off. But with both sides heavily armed, violence was always a possibility when, and if, that moment came.
FBI officials said in a statement that Mr Bundy, 40, was arrested in a traffic stop on Highway 395 along with his brother Ryan Bundy, 43, Bryan Cavalier, 44, Shawna Cox, 59, and Ryan Walen Payne, 32.
Two other activists connected to the group, Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy, 45, and Peter Santilli, 50, were later arrested, separately, in Burns, Oregon.
Each of the defendants faces a charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats, the FBI said.
According to the Oregonian newspaper, Mr Bundy was en route to a community meeting in John Day, Oregon, where he was scheduled to be a guest speaker, when authorities stopped his vehicle.
The newspaper said Ryan Bundy was injured in the arrest, suffering a minor gunshot wound. Authorities did not release the identity of the person killed.
Some 25 miles (40 km) of Highway 395 was shut in both directions following the incident, local officials said.
A joint statement released by the FBI and Oregon State Police said the two forces conducted an “enforcement action to bring into custody a number of individuals associated with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. During that arrest, there were shots fired.”
The statement added: “One individual who was a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased. We will not be releasing any information about that person pending identification by the medical examiner’s office.
“One individual suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. He was arrested and is currently in custody.”
Mr Bundy and a right-wing militia group occupied the refuge on 2 January to protest against the imprisonment of two ranchers in rural Harney County.
My Bundy and his brother are sons of Clive Bundy, who was in 2014 involved in a stand-off over grazing rights between armed anti-government activists and federal officials.(BBC News)
Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35416516
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