Defendant in Ukraine court kills self, injures 9 with hand grenades

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The father of a man shot dead in an attack last year killed himself and injured several people in a Ukraine courtroom -- when he detonated two hand grenades, police said.

The man was on trial Wednesday for a possible drug-related killing officials believe was spurred by a territorial power struggle in Ukraine.

"During a hearing of the case on murder, the victim's father pulled out two grenades and blew them up," police said in a statement.

Also injured in the blasts were nine people -- including three defendants, guards and court employees -- in Nikopol in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, police said in an online posting.

The attacker later died at the hospital, police spokesman Hanna Starchevska told RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.

The man's son was killed in February 2016 when a car he was riding in was fired on.

Incidentally, the courtroom attack was the second to occur on Wednesday. In the Netherands, former Bosnian Croat military chief Slobodan Praljak killed himself by drinking a chemical substance from a vial. The incident was captured by a camera in the courtroom.