Man sets house on fire, steals plane and flies it into tax office

A Texas man set his house on fire, then stole a small plane and crashed it into a building containing a US federal tax office on Thursday, CNN reported citing federal officials. "This was apparently - according to an official - a deliberate act," CNN anchor Tony Harris said. "Joseph Andrew Stack is the name of the pilot." A federal law enforcement official said investigators are looking into an anti-government message linked to Stack that was left on a website. The message outlines problems with the tax office and says violence "is the only answer".

The plane struck the second floor of the seven-storey building in Austin, Texas about 10am on Thursday (0300 AEDT on Friday) and burst into flames in a massive explosion that forced people to flee out of the windows, witnesses and officials said. There was "no known link to terrorism" the Department of Homeland Security said, noting that the cause of the crash was not yet known. However, North American Aerospace Defense Command launched two F-16 fighter aircraft from Ellington Field in Houston on Thursday to conduct an air patrol in response to the crash.