Alabama kidnapper dead and boy saved after police raid

A kidnapper in the US state of Alabama has died after police raided his bunker, saving a five-year-old boy held captive inside for six days.

FBI agent Steve Richardson said agents had gone in after negotiations with Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, deteriorated.

Dykes had been keeping the boy, Ethan, in a storm shelter since last Tuesday after abducting him from a school bus and shooting dead the driver.

Alabama State Senator Harri Anne Smith spent time with Ethan's mother during the kidnapping.