12 Jan 2010

Detained man ruled out as Hong Kong acid attacker

7:45 am on 12 January 2010

A man arrested after an acid attack in Hong Kong on Saturday has been ruled out as a suspect, police say.

About 30 people were injured when two bottles of acid were hurled into a busy street market in the Kowloon area.

The man arrested over the latest incident had been found hiding on a roof near the market, with lids that fitted the bottles thrown, a police spokesman said.

However officers say the man was wanted in connection with a completely unrelated offence and had not been involved in the attack.

The BBC reports more than 100 people have been injured in similar attacks since December 2008 when bottles of acid were dropped from buildings in a pedestrian zone.