Would-be thief blown up by own bomb

(ANSA) - Catania, February 20 - A would-be thief was blown up by his own bomb at a cigarette machine in Catania early Thursday, local sources said.
    The criminal was about to place the rudimentary device on the machine outside a tobacconist's, police said.
    He is believed to have died instantly.
    An accomplice who was with him fled, police said.
    The explosion damaged some nearby cars.
    The incident happened at about 4 a.m. in the working class Librino district of the eastern Sicilian coastal city.
    Carabinieri are at the scene.
    Prosecutors are set to order an autopsy.
    The man has yet to be identified.