Small plane crashes into Texas tax building - In Pictures

A small plane crashed into an office building that houses a Texas office of the US tax agency today.

CNN, quoting a federal official, reported that a pilot intentionally crashed a small aircraft into the Internal Revenue Service building next to an FBI office in Austin. The official said the pilot had set his own house on fire before flying a small plane and crashing it into the building, CNN said.

The man, identified by authorities as Joseph Stack, aged 53 or 54, apparently launched a suicide attack on a branch office of the US tax authority after a decades-long series of economic setbacks and struggles with tax payments and accountants.

No terrorist link was suspected, the department of homeland security said.

Federal authorities are treating the crash as a criminal act and have taken over the investigation.