Road ends Luxembourg hostage crisis; children freed safely

WASSERBILLIG, Luxembourg - Clutching dolls and cradled in their parents' arms, 25 children returned home safely Thursday after police stormed a day care center where they had been held hostage and shot their heavily armed captor in the head.

''Everything is over. Everybody is fine,'' said Jose Lello, a Portuguese official who came to Luxembourg because many of the children held hostage were Portuguese.

The 30-hour standoff ended when authorities lured the hostage-taker into the open with promises of a television interview and a marksman opened fire, critically wounding the man.

Immediately afterward, police moved in and two helicopters flew low near the building. The 25 children and three teachers who had been held hostage were rushed out unhurt.

The call then went out over police radio, telling dozens of anxious parents who had gathered nearby that their children were safe. The children, ranging in age from 2 to 11, were quickly taken to a crisis center where the parents had waited through the night.

''It was indescribable the happiness and joy expressed by families when they were united with their children,'' Lello said.

Onlookers broke into wild applause when the first parents and children left the crisis center. Most of the children looked baffled by all the attention.

One boy in a gym suit was carried in his father's arms. Another father choked back tears as he and his young son headed for home.

Police and psychiatrists had struggled for most of the day to convince the lone hostage-taker brandishing a gun and grenade to release the captives and drop his demand to fly to Libya. At one point, the 39-year-old man stood by a window in the day care center and waved his gun and grenade beside a picture of a teddy bear.

The man's name was not released. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said he was in serious condition in a hospital late Thursday.

The standoff began Wednesday afternoon when the man seized 37 children and three teachers at the day care center in Wasserbillig, a town of 2,300 people in eastern Luxembourg. Police said the man has a history of mental illness, and residents of this town near the German border said he blamed the day care center for the fact that he lost custody of his two children.

The man freed eight children late Wednesday, then demanded $1.38 million and a car to the airport so he and several hostages could fly to Libya. He later dropped the demand for money, police divisional commissioner Andree Colas said.

It was unclear why the man wanted to go to Libya, but police said he was of Tunisian origin.

During the standoff, parents of the captive children were counseled by police psychologists at a local art building which was converted to a crisis center. Police kept them informed throughout the night, said Joao Carlos Alves Pereira, whose 7-year-old daughter had been among the captives.

''When I heard about it, I just about went crazy. I just couldn't sleep,'' Pereira, who spent the night in the crisis center, said before the children were released.

The standoff shocked this normally quiet corner of Europe. Violent crimes are rare in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which lies between Belgium, Germany and France.

Authorities believe the kidnapper's own two children had at one time attended the same day care center, located behind the town square in a quiet, secluded residential neighborhood.

They said the man was married and came from a neighboring village. Residents said he blamed the day care center and held a grudge against its director for the fact that he lost custody of his children when he separated from his wife.

After the ordeal, Lello gave the three teachers who were among the hostages credit for keeping the children's spirits high.

''The educators did an extraordinary job,'' he said. ''They played with the kids, kept it up the whole time so that they were not traumatized.''