Albania's most wanted man eluded capture for years only to blow himself up with dynamite while fishing today.
Dubbed the "Last Cowboy", because of his gunfights with the law, Riza Malaj (34) failed to accurately gauge the length of the fuse as he tried to blow up trout but survived the blast.
Doctors at the Bajram Curri hospital said he had lost both hands, badly hurt his eyes and suffered serious wounds all over his body. His family rejected offers to have him flown to a Tirana hospital where he would have been arrested immediately.
Malaj was taken to a hospital in nearby UN-governed Kosovo.
He was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail on charges of leading an attack on the Bajram Curri police station last year.
Since 2000, warrants have been issued for Malaj's arrest on charges of wilful murder, armed robbery, armed assault and battery of the education official of the town.