US: Police hunting the Washington sniper were last night questioning two men in connection with the attacks, which have left nine people dead and three injured over a two-week period.
Early yesterday, armed police and federal agents wearing body armour seized a 24-year-old man of Mexican origin in a van parked beside a payphone at a petrol station in Richmond, Virginia, about 100 miles south of the US capital.
The second man was picked up nearby shortly afterwards. The white Plymouth Voyager van was towed away under police escort.
Witnesses said the police were in place at the Exxon station on Broad Street, in Richmond, more than an hour before the first arrest. Helicopters and police cars patrolled the area before the van was captured. There were unconfirmed reports that the second man was from Guatemala and that both were illegal immigrants.
There was speculation that what at first had looked like a dramatic breakthrough might have been a case of mistaken identity. Sheriff Stuart Cook from the Hanover County Police said: "The two people who we have in custody are being questioned in regards to the sniper shootings." However, he said, they had not been charged.
Shortly after the operation, police indicated they were in contact with a third individual about the attacks.
Mr Charles Moose, chief of police in Montgomery County, Maryland, who has been leading the hunt, said investigators wanted a new chance to talk to someone who had already made contact on a special line.
"The person you called could not hear everything that you said. The audio was unclear and we want to get it right. Call us back so that we can clearly understand." Mr Moose declined to explain the apparent contacts but only asked reporters to carry the message.
"If you could carry that message clearly and carry it often, it would be appreciated," he told reporters.
Police on Sunday had issued an appeal to the person who left a message at the Ponderosa steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, about 85 miles south of Washington, where a 37-year-old man was shot and seriously wounded on Saturday evening. "To the person that left us a message at the Ponderosa last night: You gave us a telephone number. We do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided. Thank you," Mr Moose said on Sunday.
The arrests came as ballistics tests confirmed that the man wounded in Ashland was the sniper's 12th victim.
He has undergone the first in a series of surgical operations and is in a critical condition.
Through the hospital, the man's wife released a statement saying the caring and prayers she and her husband had received had been "a bright ray of hope and comfort. Please pray also for the attacker and that no one else is hurt".
The suburbs and small towns around Washington have been terrorised by the attacks and many sporting and school functions have been cancelled or relocated. At least 150,000 school students are being kept at home for safety.
On Sunday, both the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, and the National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, played down the possibility that the attacks were part of an international terrorist conspiracy.