1970s radical freed from US jail

Olson was captured in 1999 after police received a tip-off

A woman who spent 24 years on the run before pleading guilty to a 1975 attempted police car bombing, has been released after a seven-year jail term.

Sara Jane Olson, formerly known as Kathleen Soliah, was a member of the militant Symbionese Liberation Army.

The group became famous for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst in 1974.

Olson also pleaded guilty to the second degree murder of a woman during a 1975 bank raid. She spent her fugitive years living as a housewife in Minnesota.

Early release

The police finally caught her in 1999, acting on a tip-off prompted by a profile of Olson that had been broadcast on the TV programme America's Most Wanted.

In 2001 she was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the attempted police car bombings and six years for the second-degree murder charge, to be served concurrently.

The union representing Los Angeles police officers has expressed disappointment at the decision to release Olson before the end of her prison term.

"She needs to serve her full time in prison for these crimes and does not deserve time-off for working in prison," said Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tim Sands.

Olson's lawyer defended the decision, saying "she earned time for her good behaviour in prison - she wasn't treated any differently than anybody else".

The Symbionese Liberation Army formed in Berkeley, California in the 1970s, committed to fighting against what it said was an oppressive governmental regime.

The group carried out a series of bombings, murders and robberies before most of its members were killed in a dramatic fire in 1974 after a gun battle with Los Angeles police.