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One
hurt in British Embassy Blast
A suspected
mail bomb has detonated in the British Embassy in Croatia, causing
minor injuries to one person, the Foreign Office confirmed.
The device exploded in a post room at the consulate in Zagreb.
A FCO spokeswoman said: "One person suffered minor injuries when an explosive device detonated in a post room.
"Their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening and an inquiry is under way."
Security has been stepped up at the site as a result of the blast.
Ambassador Sir John Ramsden is understood to be at the scene as an investigation is carried out.
The Foreign Office said it would not confirm if the injured person was British or Croatian, but said they were a member of staff.
In May, two home-made hand grenades were hurled at a building housing the British Consulate in New York, causing minor damage.
Officials could not be clear whether the consulate itself had been targeted, but the strike came on the day of Britain's General Election.
19 Sep, 2005,
AP
After Letter Bomb, Yemen Journalists Still Under Attack
In Yemen, independent journalists are working in increasingly hostile conditions marked by intimidation, harassment and violent attacks, report the International Press Institute (IPI), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).
The attacks come in the wake of turbulent riots over the government's lifting of fuel subsidies in July which left dozens of people killed.
In the latest incident, four men abducted Jamal Amer, editor of the weekly "Al-Wasat", on 23 August 2005 as he returned home from his office in the capital, Sanaa, says CPJ. The journalist said he was thrown into another car, beaten and accused of receiving funding from the U.S. and Kuwaiti embassies. One of the men warned him about defaming unspecified "officials." Amer said he was released about four hours later. He said he believed the car he was thrown into belonged to the Yemeni Republican Guard.
"Al-Wasat" has been a fierce critic of the Yemeni government and frequently publishes stories about corruption and government misconduct. A recent article listed the names of 56 students, with connections to high-ranking government officers, who have been awarded state-funded scholarships to study abroad, notes IPI.
The attack against Amer is the latest in a string of thefts, threats and violent attacks against journalists over the past year, CPJ says. Last week, burglars broke into the Sanaa office of The Associated Press and stole computers, a fax machine, and a camera.
In July, police assaulted and arrested several journalists covering the fuel price riots. Haji al-Jehafi, editor of the weekly newspaper "Al-Nahar", was wounded on 17 July when he opened a letter bomb addressed to him. Other journalists were attacked or had their equipment confiscated. Foreign media were prevented from sending news reports using Yemeni TV satellite stations.
In the aftermath of the riots, some journalists are still receiving harassing phone calls and threats warning them not to criticise the government.
Despite a lively and diverse press in Yemen, journalists often incur harsh penalties for reporting on sensitive topics. Yemen's 1990 Press Law bars criticism of the president and lists a wide range of vaguely worded offenses that can land a journalist in court and prison. Article 103 prohibits journalists and editors from publishing articles that "cause tribal, sectarian, racial, regional or ancestral discrimination" or "undermine public morals or prejudices the dignity of individuals or personal freedoms."
According to RSF, nine suspended jail sentences against journalists were issued by Yemeni courts in 2004.
In response
to international criticism, the government has drafted legislation
to amend the Press Law, including decriminalising press offences.
IFJ has urged the government to consult the Yemeni Journalists'
Syndicate on the draft legislation.
31 August 2005, IFEX
Union Complains That Package Handlers for DHL are not Protected Against Bombs, Biohazards and Other Hazards
In a press release GMB, a general trade union in the UK, has demanded that DHL install the same procedures as Royal Mail for dealing with suspect packages to ensure safety of workers
Thousands of GMB members at DHL Vauxhall and other depots around the country, who handle hundreds of thousands of parcels per day, are angry that the delivery company has no plans in place for dealing with evacuation if suspect packages are found.
In contrast to DHL depots, Royal Mail has full evacuation procedures for dealing with suspect packages. In the event of a suspicious package being found at the Royal Mail depot in Nine Elms, Vauxhall, staff are cleared from the building. They leave the Royal Mail premises entirely and congregate on Nine Elms Lane to be verified. This is the full evacuation of four floors and up to 800 people. GMB has demanded that DHL matches the safety procedures employed by Royal Mail.
GMB demands that DHL carries out risk assessments and health and safety checks at all of its parcel depots. GMB is concerned, following the terrorist attacks on London, that volatile materials could be travelling through parcel depots. GMB is worried that that the potential for postage of deadly parcels, containing explosives and toxic substances like ricin, could be leaving DHL employees and members of the public at risk. GMB believes that it is ridiculous in the current circumstances to not have parcel depots’ safety procedures vetted by trained health and safety representatives.
GMB is concentrating its attention on the Nine Elms DHL depot, because of its proximity to Central London. The depot is situated behind Vauxhall Bridge and is significantly close to the Houses of Parliament. GMB Regional Officer, Frank Minal, wrote to DHL Express 8 weeks ago requesting access to the Nine Elms site and risk assessments for the depot. To this date he has not received an official response and DHL are continuing to refuse him access to the site. This has led GMB to believe that no such risk assessments exist and to grow increasingly concerned about DHL’s interest in health and safety issues.
Frank Minal,
GMB Regional Officer, said, “DHL owe it to their workers
and to the public to match the safety procedures being followed
by Royal Mail in the event of suspect packages. It is essential
that at a location as big and important as Vauxhall that there
is clarity in the procedures and that tried and tested systems
are used in what are tense and dangerous times. We want to sit
down with the company to sort this out.”
31 August 2005, GMB
Terror in Rome as Suspicious Parcel Found
at Metro Station
Authorities
at Rome's Piazza Vittorio metro station were on the alert this
morning as a suspiciously-looking parcel was spotted by passengers
under a bench nearby. The parcel, police sources said, contained
a tank with white powder in it. Police are currently examining
the tank's content to rule out the presence of a nuclear, biological
or chemical threat. Meanwhile, service on Line A of Rome's metro
has resumed regularly.
31 August 2005, AGI
British Embassy in Indonesia Evacuated After Mail Bomb Scare
Indonesia: The British Embassy in the capital Jakarta has been evacuated after receiving a suspicious package, an embassy spokes-woman said today.
Police bomb
squad officers were searching the grounds of the heavily fortified
building.
29 August 2005
More Threats Against Farmer by Animal Rights Group
Animal rights extremists vowed last night to continue targeting the family forced to close their guinea pig farm after a merciless 15-year hate campaign.
Activists warned that the Hall family's nightmare could continue for as long as they reared animals of any kind.
The Animal Liberation Front claimed Darley Oaks Farm would be a 'legitimate target' even if it switched to beef, dairy or sheep farming.
The family have already endured death threats, hate mail, bomb hoaxes, arson attacks and the desecration of a relative's grave.
They hoped their drastic decision to stop breeding guinea pigs for medical research would lead to the return of the remains of 82-year- old Gladys Hammond, whose body was plundered from a churchyard.
The family were originally dairy farmers and on Tuesday they announced their intention to return to 'traditional' farming.
But the extremists say emptying the sheds of guinea pigs will not necessarily spell an end to the protests.
Animal Liberation Front spokesman Robin Webb said: 'Any animal farming is opposed under the philosophy of animal liberation.
'All animal farming is a legitimate target. Nobody needs animal products to live a healthy life.' Following the decision to close the guinea pig farm in Newchurch, Staffordshire, leading scientists have united in support of animal experiments.
More than 500 scientists and doctors have signed a declaration making clear the need for animal testing in medical research.
The pledge, which was drawn up by the Research Defence Society, states that a 'small but vital' part of medical research involves animals.
Among the signatories are three Nobel laureates, 190 fellows of the prestigious Royal Society and Medical Royal Colleges and more than 250 academic professors.
The declaration, signed over the last month, reads: ' Experiments on animals have made an important contribution to advances in medicine and surgery, which have brought major improvements in the health of humans and animals.'
It states that researchers should gain the medical and scientific benefits that animal experiments can provide while making every effort to safeguard animal welfare and minimise suffering.
The signatories agree that, whenever possible, animal experiments must be replaced by methods that do not use them, and the number of animals in research must be cut.
Leading geneticist Dr Robin Lovell-Badge said: 'We would rather not use animals and we try hard to find alternatives, but without the research we do, there would be no progress in finding cures that alleviate pain, suffering and disease in animals, as well as humans.' Strict Government regulations mean scientists have to show the research is fully justified, the benefits outweigh the costs and there are no suitable alternatives.
But critics claim the declaration does not go far enough.
The RSPCA wants the scientific community to commit to ending animal research.
And the lawyer acting for the Hall family branded the declaration an 'empty gesture'.
Tim Lawson-Cruttenden said the scientific community's support for animal experimentation came too late to make a difference to the Halls.
'Had they been supportive, the Halls might have survived but they were on their own,' he said. 'Why make a declaration after Dunkirk? Make it before.'
Politicians called the demise of the guinea pig farm a triumph for animal rights 'terrorists'. But theextremists were last night still celebrating a 'victory for compassion and unceasing activism against all odds'.
25 August 2005, Daily Mail
Matador Sent Threatening Text Message From Animal Rights Extremists
An abusive text message sent to British bullfighter Frank Evans by animal activists is being investigated by police.
Mr Evans, 63, Britain's only matador, retired last week after spending more than 40 years braving the bullrings of Spain.
In the past, animal-rights campaigners have turned up at his Salford home and a letter bomb was once sent to him.
Mr Evans said: "How this person got my mobile number I don't know."
The text comes
the same week a Staffordshire farm which breeds guinea pigs for
research closed after years of intimidation.
26 August 2005, Mirror
Ecoterrorists Ranking By FBI Disputed by Some Experts
Watching Eric Rudolph be sentenced to life in prison this week for his terror bombings, I wondered whether he and his followers represent the future of domestic terrorism or the past.
After all, it's been nine years since he bombed the 1996 Olympics. That was little more than a year after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Rudolph's last bombing, of a family planning clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, was in early 1998. Did it mark the end of the era when America's homegrown threat came primarily from right-wing extremists?
The FBI believes Rudolph and McVeigh are part of the past.
Instead, the agency sees a new threat: "The No. 1 domestic terrorism threat is the eco-terrorism, animal-rights movement," said John Lewis, an FBI deputy assistant director and top official in charge of domestic terrorism.
Not so fast, says a monitor of domestic terrorist groups on both ends of the spectrum.
"It is simply ludicrous to describe animal rights and eco-terrorism as the No. 1 threat," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He believes those following the paths of Rudolph and McVeigh are still a clear and present danger.
Trying to decide which is the most dangerous domestic threat - far right-wing militants or eco- and pro-animal radicals - is, in some ways, analogous to deciding whether Osama bin Laden or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi poses the biggest international threat.
But if you are the FBI or Department of Homeland Security, your domestic terror priority drives how finite resources are allocated -- especially when so much attention and money is focused on al Qaeda and international terror.
Increasing violence
Here's how the animal rights and eco-terrorists made it to the top of the FBI charts.
"There is nothing else going on in this country, over the last several years, that is racking up the high number of violent crimes and terrorist actions, arsons, etc, that this particular area of domestic terrorism has caused," Lewis testified to a Senate committee earlier this year.
Lewis said that from January 1990 to June 2004, "animal and environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 [attacks], resulting in millions of dollars of damages and monetary loss."
The FBI is worried about mounting rhetoric from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), whose members regularly break into labs, destroy equipment and threaten scientists; and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), whose supporters attack SUVs and housing developments.
Consider the words of Jerry Vlasak, a physician who is a well-known activist in the animal advocacy movement in Los Angeles. He said he's not a member of ALF, but makes it his mission to publicize their actions. To Vlasak, anyone who does testing on live animals is a "vivisector."
Vlasak made some incendiary comments at an animal rights conference in 2003. "I think there is a use for violence in our movement," Vlasak was reported as saying.
He called violence morally acceptable at times. "If vivisectors were being killed, I think it would give other vivisectors pause. If there were prominent vivisectors being assassinated, there would be a trickle-down effect ... strictly from a fear and intimidation factor, that would be an effective action."
"You wouldn't need to see too many assassinations" before vivisection declined, he said.
The FBI admits it has had a hard time penetrating ALF and ELF. Actions are usually taken by small groups of people, acting autonomously, and e-mailing or faxing results to people like Vlasak, who publicize the results.
The movement prides itself on this sort of independent cell structure and the lack of central leadership.
Other threatsBut to date, Vlasak notwithstanding, no one has died from any of these attacks. And nothing on the terror scale of Oklahoma City or the 1996 Olympics has been committed, said Potok.
My worry is that, just as in the years running up to the Oklahoma City bombing, ... we will ignore a world of violence emanating from our own extreme right.
-- Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center"A single person from the American extreme right managed to murder 168 people in a stroke," he said, referring to Oklahoma City. "There was a Ku Klux Klan plot in the late '90s that contemplated killing 30,000 people."
Potok was referring to a plan by four Klan members to blow up a natural gas refinery near Fort Worth, Texas, in 1997. It never happened.
Potok agreed with Lewis and the FBI that the ALF-ELF movement poses a danger. "I don't mean to diminish their activities. They've caused huge property damage and there is very little question they will kill someone these days."
But he says that -- since Oklahoma City -- 15 police officers have been killed by right-wing extremists and his group has produced a list of some 60 plots by white supremacists and other anti-government radicals during that time - including, of course, Rudolph's bombing campaign.
"It is difficult to understand how the leaders of our major national security organizations can see it this way," Potok said, referring to the FBI's ranking of ALF and ELF as major domestic terrorism threats.
Potok thinks politics is behind the decision: Political pressure from the White House and conservative Republicans toward the environmental movement is, in part, the reason eco-terrorism is now the priority, he said.
"My worry is that, just as in the years running up to the Oklahoma City bombing, ... we will ignore a world of violence emanating from our own extreme right."
Rudolph victims' views
For Eric Rudolph's victims, who vented their anger during the sentencing hearing, there is no debate over relative dangers. To them, Rudolph remains the past, present and future of terrorism.
Victims and family of victims offered heart-rending accounts of how their lives had been changed by Rudolph's bombs. Some forgave him. Others cursed him.
Most didn't accept his apology for the Olympic Park bombing. Rudolph refused to apologize for the other bombings - of a family planning clinic and a gay club in Atlanta. His bombings killed two people and severely maimed another.
It was absolutely quiet in the courtroom as Rudolph was led out -- the only sound you could hear came from the shackles on his feet.
Even as he disappeared, the question remained - have we seen the last of his sort and does the future of domestic terrorism hold something new - even something we have not yet experienced?
24 August 2005, CNN
Animal Rights Terrorists Pressure Britain
They firebombed an Oxford University boathouse, planted explosives beneath cars and appear to have stolen the remains of an 82-year-old woman.
Now animal rights activists are vowing to turn Oxford into a battleground in order to stop construction of a new biomedical research center - and the university is promising it will be built.
Britain is facing increased pressure to deal with radical animal activists, who analysts say could cost the country billions of dollars a year in lost investment.
Activists claimed a victory this week when a family-run guinea pig farm in northwest England announced it would no longer breed animals for medical experiments - and appealed for the return of the remains of the co-owner's mother-in-law, which they believe extremists stole from a churchyard grave in October.
Attention has now turned to a construction site on the edge of Oxford's science area, where animal rights activists have stalled a university project to build a new Biomedical Research center to replace aging laboratories.
Medical experiments on animals are to be conducted in the $32 million building as part of research into treatment for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
"Oxford is going to become a big battleground," said Mel Broughton, co-founder of Speak, the group leading the campaign against the facility. "The government has said they will draw the line in the sand over construction at Oxford. We've kept the same view, this is something we won't back down from."
Work on the building stopped in July 2004, when construction company Montpellier pulled out after shareholders received forged letters purportedly from the firm's chairman urging them to sell their shares to avoid reprisals from animal rights extremists. The London-listed company's shares plummeted when shareholders received the letter.
Oxford has vowed that the facility will be completed, and the government has offered security assistance. But there has been no sign of when work will resume.
"The activists certainly seem to have the upper hand," said Simon Festing, director of the Research Defence Society, which represents doctors and scientists in the debate over animals' role in research.
Stapled to the trees along the road where the construction site is located are laminated copies of a November High Court injunction barring animal rights activists from intimidating or attacking students, staff and anyone involved in the construction. The order restricts protests to 50 people on a small area across the road from the building site on Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The government introduced new penalties this year for activists found guilty of targeting research centers, including five year jail sentences for causing "economic damage."
Animal extremism is also increasingly becoming a problem in the U.S. The FBI said in June that violence by environmental and animal rights extremists against U.S. drug makers has increased so much in recent years that it's currently the FBI's top domestic terrorism issue.
In the debate over animal testing, the government and scientists say Britain has the strictest animal welfare standards and that animals are only used in experiments when there is no alternative.
At a university boat house on the outskirts of town, workmen in white coveralls began clearing the melted and crumbling remnants of 24 rowing boats from the Hertford College boathouse on Wednesday.
The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the July 4 attack, which caused an estimated $900,000 in damage, saying the new biomedical building was the reason for the attack.
The militant attacks will force some companies to reassess the risks their U.K. employees face and lead them to consider moving to less hostile environments, such as Asia, according to a report by the London-based Aegis Security Services.
Companies relocating could cost Britain billion of dollars a year in lost investment, the report said. About $5.4 billion is invested annually in the U.K.'s biopharmaceutical industry, according to the Trade and Industry Department.
25 August 2005, AP
Mail Bomb Scare Evacuates Minnesota School Admin Building
One day before the start of classes in Battle Creek, the school district's administration building was evacuated.
A call came into Battle Creek police at 8:30 this morning reporting a suspicious package in the mail.
Police evacuated the administration building at Capital and Van Buren. They also cleared the Willard Library and the Miller Stone building across the street.
The bomb squad came in to investigate the package that was reportedly making beeping noises. Eventually, a timer was found. The district says it was being sent from one building to another through inter-office mail.Police inspected more than 20 packages before finding the timer. The building was cleared and staff returned to work.
"They
have one of these carts that hold all the inter-office mail and
it was in a hallway next to an unsecured door," explained
BCPD bomb technician Joe Wilder. "So given the circumstances
– school starting tomorrow, an unsecured door – what
we could surmise is that it was somebody playing games."
22 August 2005, WWMT News
Bomb Makers Share Recipes on the Web
Chris is 15 years old. He likes to blow things up.
Chris makes his own bombs with instructions he gets off the Internet. He says he does it for the rush.
The ingredients are just lying around the house. Gasoline. Aluminum foil. Ammonia. Bleach. PVC pipe. Match heads. Chris has even gotten water to explode.
"I got too close and the flame came across my face," Chris says. "I lost both eyebrows." He told his father he got crazy at a party and shaved them. "I'm a quick thinker," he says.
One time, Chris made acetone peroxide. A lot of suicide bombers use a version of acetone peroxide, and it may have played a role in the London subway and bus bombings. Acetone peroxide is shock-sensitive. Bump it too hard and, boom, up in smoke. It's so deadly terrorists call it the "Mother of Satan."
"When I made it, I probably had the biggest heart attack ever," Chris says. "I was afraid of dying."
Chris took his Mother of Satan to a park and stuck it in a tree fort. When he got far enough away, he hit the detonator.
"It just tore everything up," Chris says. "I feel sorry for the tree. It died."
Chris shares his passion for do-it-yourself explosives with other 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds from around the world on the Internet. That's where he brags about his exploits and swaps recipes for bombs made with materials his father keeps under the sink or in the garage. Law enforcement officials say they're keeping an eye on these Web forums, but there's little they can do. It's impossible to outlaw Reynolds Wrap or Clorox. And they can't arrest anyone for talking about how to make bombs.
"Freedom of speech is a double-edged sword," says Capt. Kevin Hartnett of the Bergen County Police Department's bomb squad. "It's a wonderful thing, but it opens up the ability for anyone to get this information easily."
Hartnett knows how scary a little know-how can be. He's familiar with the pipe bomb that took out a drop-ceiling at Palisades Park High School, the Pequannock teenager who was rushed to the hospital after his homemade explosive went off and the bomb a Garfield kid's panicked parents dropped off at a police station. Hartnett and his colleagues neutralize 10 to 15 explosive devices each year. Most of the bombs do no harm, but who can say what mayhem the next one will unleash?
"There's an amazing amount of information out there on the Internet," Hartnett says.
Watching Web sites
Authorities believe some of that information was used by terrorists in last month's London subway and bus attacks.
"The devices in London were of the same type and the same general characteristics as those described and promoted on some of the Internet sites," says Chris Ronay, a retired FBI agent who headed the bureau's explosives unit for 18 years. "You can identify certain bombs that were identical to those published on the Internet."
Federal, state and local law enforcement agents say they keep tabs on the Internet's explosives makers. Officials are circumspect about the exact nature of that work, saying they don't want to divulge too much about how they operate. One says he types "bomb" into a search engine and hits "go." Another says he routinely monitors the Web sites of "domestic terrorist organizations" that offer bomb-making advice. None of the officials interviewed for this article say they've heard of the Web site Chris visits regularly.
"There are so many Web sites I don't know if anybody can monitor them all," says Joseph Green, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.
The federal government has no fewer than a half-dozen agencies assigned to the menace: The Environmental Protection Agency controls certain chemicals that can be used to make bombs in the . back yard. The Agriculture Department regulates the sale of fertilizers like ammonium nitrate, which Timothy McVeigh mixed with gasoline in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The Transportation Security Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, oversees protection on airplanes, trains and buses. The Justice Department rules on the delicate balance between civil liberties and public safety, and the FBI and the ATF track down suspects.
In order for authorities to act on what they read on the Web, they need evidence of a specific threat, says Leo West, a retired FBI agent who spent nine years on the bureau's explosives unit.
"You have to have details," West says. "A plot, a potential victim, a date and a location. If it's coupled with corroborating information from another source, that can open the door for an actual, active investigation."
It's the American public, ultimately, that must help protect itself. Authorities acknowledge that there's little they can do to stop a bomber without cooperation from people who have their eyes peeled.
"We really need the public," West says. "The information we get from citizens and merchants is key to an investigation."
The ATF formalized that appeal after the Oklahoma City bombing when it enlisted the gardening and farm supply industries in a program called Be Aware for America. Dealers were asked to report suspicious people who tried to buy fertilizers, like ammonium nitrate, that could be used to make explosives.
Mark Evans, manager of the Growmark FS store in Hunterdon County, began keeping a closer watch over his supply of ammonium nitrate after the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.
"We restricted sales on it to customers who've dealt with us for years," Evans says. "We had several people come in and ask for prices and we told them we didn't sell it." Evans adds that his store no longer sells ammonium nitrate. "You can replace it with a less dangerous fertilizer," he says.
Pipe bombs are easy
Chris, who's from Ontario, says many of his online cohorts - who live in places as varied as New Jersey, Indiana, California and Australia - probably talk about making explosives a lot more than they're actually doing it.
Even so, Ronay, the former FBI explosives expert, cautions against being fooled by their immaturity.
"It doesn't matter if you believe the people who are doing it aren't sophisticated," he says. "Their bombs can be."
The most popular: pipe bombs. "Anyone can easily make one," says one teenager. The pipes are usually fashioned from lead or PVC, but Internet bomb makers suggest more creative alternatives - a plastic M&Ms canister or a section of hollow bicycle frame.
One of the perils of the Internet as a bomb-making school is that there's no way a kid can tell if a particular recipe leaves out an important step, creating an even bigger potential hazard.
That's what one self-described expert says is his justification for posting detailed directions for making grenades, fuses, timed detonators, land mines, nitrocellulose (also known as gun cotton) and a favorite recipe he calls "Make an Explosive From Your Piss!"
"If kids out there are determined to make explosives, they may as well find out the safest way possible of doing so," he wrote in an e-mail message. "Many people may think it's irresponsible of me to post such instructions, and I'd agree with them to a point, but many of these [kids] have already made up their minds. I'd like to think I help them make sure they don't kill themselves or other people."
The expert, who asked that his real name not be used, says he's a 22-year-old combat engineer in the Irish Army Reserves, where he's gained experience in demolition. He shares his knowledge freely with teenagers on the Internet - for safety's sake, he says.
"For example, if acetone peroxide is not kept below 10 degrees Celsius, you end up making the much more volatile dimeric form which will sometimes explode for no apparent reason at all," he wrote.
The Irish expert - who vigorously denies any involvement in paramilitary groups - contradicts himself when he says he doesn't expect anybody to actually make bombs using his meticulous instructions. His disclaimer is similar to those on Web sites warning readers that instructions for making explosives are for "entertainment purposes only" and shouldn't be attempted.
Ronay says the Irishman is in a state of denial.
"He's a nut case," Ronay says. "Like so many others, he likes to fool around with things that skirt the edge of legality. There's not much merit in his argument."
His first bomb
Sure enough, adolescents who frequent a Web site that offers the Irishman's instructions say they're building bombs all the time. One 14-year-old boy, who asked to be referred to as Your Worst Nightmare, says he started playing around with explosives when he was 10. His first bomb: black powder ripped out of a bottle rocket and wrapped in toilet paper.
"I just like to experiment," Your Worst Nightmare says. "I like the loud noise. My parents don't give a crap as long as I don't make a mess."
A 14-year-old who calls himself Defiler tries to cut a more worldly Internet profile. He touts his experiments as a scientific quest for the Platonic ideal of a bomb.
Defiler recently went on a search for the best homemade napalm he could concoct. He celebrated when, on his own, he "finally" came up with a substance that's "really easy to ignite and burns for a while" - and immediately shared it, complete with photos, with his Internet friends.
Defiler views his hobby as a noteworthy, if unconventional, item on his résumé. The pubescent bomb maker says he wants to be an astronaut, a chemical engineer or a military software developer when he grows up. And he strives to separate himself from the kids he sees as reckless on the so-called information superhighway.
"Most of the 'information' floating around the Internet is usually a lie," Defiler says. "I don't Google 'bomb instructions' and make the first bomb that comes up. It's a very useful skill to know what you are actually doing and understand it, not just following the instructions someone gave you."
Defiler's father supports his experimentation. "My dad was a lot like me when he was a kid, so he understands," Defiler says.
Most teen bomb makers have family troubles, says Dr. Alberto Goldwaser, a Paramus forensic psychiatrist, and setting off ear-splitting kabooms makes them feel powerful.
In response to the e-mail question, "Why do you do it?" a teenager who asked to be called XRAY wrote that his love of loud bangs is a "diesease":
i have alot of problums at home and i think i might have a diesease
explosions are my drug
they make me feel smart
the felling of u created something makes u proud of ur self
its like a drug but better
Most kids outgrow their fascination with explosives, Goldwaser says. For some, he says, "a counter-phobic mechanism" kicks in, and they grow up to lead respectable lives, even becoming firefighters. For others, however, an abusive upbringing taught them that problems can be handled with violence.
"A very small percentage of these kids turn out to be sociopaths," Goldwaser says. "They can be dangerous. Some of them are bombs themselves, waiting to go off." Typical adolescent problems at home, school or work can spark aggression, Goldwaser says.
They needn't become indoctrinated in extremist politics to pose a danger, says Angela LaBelle, chief of staff at the New Jersey Office of Counter-Terrorism. "Do we worry about kids and bombs? Yes," she says. "All you have to do is look at Columbine."
Chris doesn't follow the news. He didn't know about the July 7 London bombings until a week after they happened. He found out when was watching the British Open golf tournament on TV and there was a moment of silence for the 52 people who died. The worst damage Chris says he's done was a junker car he obliterated with a couple of strategically placed pipe bombs. Then there was the crater he blew with homemade TNT behind second base on a ball field. And of course, there's the tree he killed with an acetone peroxide blast. But he says he learned a lesson from the London bombings.
"I shouldn't
buy any more acetone," Chris says. "After what happened
in London, if they see some hoodlum buying acetone, it might raise
a red flag. I'll stick to gasoline."
21 August 2005, NJ Media
Bomb Scares in New Zealand Double
Bomb scares have more than doubled since the London bombings as people rush to report suspicious suitcases, handbags and even a brick.
Police figures show 55 bomb scares throughout New Zealand in the five weeks after London's July 7 bombings, which killed more than 50 people. In the five weeks before the bombings, 21 were reported. All proved to be false alarms.
Police commissioner's office spokeswoman Sarah Martin said the figures covered suspicious packages, old munitions, explosives and hoaxes. "The figures fluctuated from month to month.
"It is possible that the public may be more sensitive to such matters in the wake of the London bombings and therefore report suspicious packages more readily."
The number of hoaxes might also have increased, "as was the case with post-9/11 white powder scares".
Eleven of the recent bomb scares were in the Wellington region, nine in the central business district.
Inspector Jim Taare, of police central communications centre, said most scares were sparked by unattended briefcases or handbags. But one was caused by a brick that had been used to hold back a door. A person who spotted it from the third floor of a building alerted police.
The scares have forced the closure of streets, including Lambton Quay, and the evacuation of buildings. The packages have contained objects such as fish food, curtains and computer equipment.
Police have
reminded people to pick up their bags to avoid alarming others.
20 August 2005, NZ Stuff
Ottawa Bank Closed After Suspicious Powder Found on Money
Tests indicate that there is no danger to the public after a powder was found on some bills at a bank in the city's east-end.
Police say a hazardous material team has not been able to determine what exactly the powder is but say it is harmless.
The Royal
Bank branch in the Elmvale Plaza was cordoned off Wednesday afternoon
when the powder was found.
18 August 2005, CFRA Radio
Suspected Bomb Found at Malta Palace
The Grandmaster's Palace in Valletta was evacuated for some time after the soldiers on guard noticed an unidentified packet next to the columns at the main entrance.
All the employees and tourists within the palace were evacuated. The President of Malta, Eddie Fenech Adami, was not present in the building.
Access to St. George square was denied whilst the Bomb Disposal Unit and the Armed Forces of Malta conducted the operation.
The suspicious
packet was found to be a hoax after the necessary control operations
took place. The police are still investigating the case
16 August, 2005, Di-VE news
Diaper
sparks bomb alert
An "electronic nappy" used to monitor wetness sparked
a bomb alert in a German post office when it arrived in a parcel
ticking suspiciously, police in the southwestern city of Heilbronn
said Thursday.
"They suspected it was a bomb so they put the package into an empty room and called the police," said a police spokesman. "It was supposed to respond to wetness with bleeping sounds but this one ticked."
Two squad
cars rushed to the scene and immediately contacted the sender.
Police gave the all clear after they contacted the woman who told
them the intercepted package contained only a malfunctioning diaper.
18 August 2005, Reuters
A Norwegian teenager was killed when a homemade bomb made with instructions downloaded from the Internet blew up in an apartment in Oslo, police said overnight.
Police said
they did not suspect the explosion late yesterday was linked to
terrorism.
The blast shattered windows in a three-storey residential block
in the east of the capital.
The blast killed the 17-year-old and seriously injured his 19-year old brother, who was taken to hospital.
Three other young Norwegians in the eastern Oslo flat at the time were unhurt. They were held for questioning.
"There was a blast and we found instruction manuals downloaded from the Internet about how to make explosives," police investigator Vidar Hjulstad said.
"Some powder and liquids were found that these youths had mixed together," he said.
After the blast, heavily armed police cordoned off the area and evacuated about a dozen other residents into the street as they searched for more explosives.
"We think that it was youths experimenting to find a type of explosive," Hjulstad said, adding that police had no reason to believe it was linked to terrorism.
18 Aug 2005, The Courier Mail
Bangladesh
woken by bombs
Some 300 small bombs rocked cities across Bangladesh Wednesday,
killing one person, wounding at least 100, and raising questions
here about whether the government has come down hard enough against
a rising tide of Islamic militarism.
The bombs reportedly targeted mainly government offices, bus and train stations, and markets in 63 of the country's 64 districts. Police suspect that the homemade bombs were not designed to kill. However, the breadth of the attack - along with the timing of explosions within a half hour time frame - suggests a high degree of coordination.
No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but copies of a leaflet found at most of the bomb sites carried a call by an Islamic group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, for Islamic rule in Bangladesh.
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and other militant outfits were banned in February for their alleged involvement in criminal activities. But critics here say the government, which includes two Islamist parties, has been reluctant to take a harder line with militant groups.
"The government has been suffering from some sense of self-complacency," says Zaid Bakht, Research Director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies. "They think they are in control of extreme right elements. They government has been discounting their size, their capacity and how they can destabilize things here."
Most of Bangladesh's 141 million people are Muslim. The country was founded on secular principles and enjoys a moderate, peaceful reputation. However, political violence has been a part of the long-standing rivalries between the two main political parties - the right-leaning Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which is now in power, and the left-leaning Awami League. According to Maj. Gen. Mainul Hossain Chowdhury (ret.), Bangladesh has seen some 400 other bombing cases since 1999.
Wednesday's blasts focused attention on the presence of Islamic militants, who have been blamed in the past for bomb explosions at religious shrines and rallies. Jaamat-ul-Mujahideen said the blasts were its "third call" to establish Islamic rule in the country. "If ignored and [if] our people are arrested or persecuted, Jaamat-ul-Mujahideen will take the counter-action," the leaflets said. They also warned the United States and Britain against occupation of Muslim lands: "It is also to warn Bush and Blair to vacate Muslim countries, or to face Muslim upsurge."
Some analysts here see the latest attacks as an attempt by Islamists to gain influence within a turbulent domestic political scene.
"It is not international terrorist organizations involved here.... I believe it is to gain the political will of the people," says Mahbubar Rahman, a member of parliament. He adds that he does not think the Islamic fundamentalist groups have the capability of organizing such a countrywide network.
But Bakht is not as quick to dismiss the organizational power of such groups.
"This implies strong organization throughout the country. What small extremist Islamic groups we have, so far they have not been able to demonstrate nationwide organizational strength," says Bahkt. "Our assessment of the size and organizational strength of these elements need to be reconsidered."
Bangladesh has many of the same demographic and cultural factors at play that led to the rise of militant Islam in nearby Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In particular, it has a network of Deobandi religious schools, or madrassahs that, like Pakistan's, have contributed to radicalization of many poor youth.
In recent years the country has seen a rise in Islamist violence against its Hindu minority and is home to a number of suspected Islamist terror groups, including the Harakat al-Jihad al-Islami, or the Islamic Jihad Movement, which has ties to Al Qaeda's leadership and to an organization of the same name in Pakistan.
But Bakht and other analysts in Bangladesh discount the possibility of a foreign hand in Wednesday's attack. If international extremist groups are hiding in Bangladesh, Wednesday's attacks would be counterproductive, he argues. "They would not want to publicize themselves by stirring things up."
Bakht also notes that the bombs were left in open places, meaning the attackers could have hit much harder but chose not to. Indeed, police who examined a number unexploded bombs said they were wrapped in tape, paper, or sawdust rather than the nails or shrapnel that more deadly bombs use.
Still, observers who have followed the rise of militant Islam in Southeast Asia warn against downplaying these attacks just because of the small size of the bombs. Zachary Abuza, a senior fellow at the US Institute of Peace, sees parallels with Indonesia, the scene of large-scale attacks in Bali and Jakarta that were presaged by early, less effective blasts.
"[Bangladesh]
is a country of concern to me because what you get out of the
leadership sounds so much like what you got out of the Indonesian
leadership before the Bali blasts. They would say that the country
was a moderate Muslim country, the people were tolerant, they
were secular, the radical Islamists were a distinct minority that
had no interest in political violence," says Mr. Abuza.
18 August 2005, CSI
Bomb
kills policeman, 16 wounded in Afghanistan
A roadside
bomb killed an Afghan policeman and wounded 16 others on Wednesday
in the southern city of Kandahar, police said.
The blast hit the police vehicle in a crowded area of the city, police said.
Officials said the bomb was triggered by remote control and blamed Taliban insurgents for carrying out the attack. No Taliban member could be immediately reached for comment.
On Tuesday, eight Afghan troops were wounded in a similar attack in adjacent Uruzgan province.
Two U.S. military personnel were wounded in a clash with insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar on Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement in Kabul.
Eastern and southern parts of Afghanistan have been the scene of a series of attacks by Taliban and their hardline Islamic allies in recent weeks ahead of next month's parliamentary polls.
Hundreds of
people, mostly militants, have been killed in those areas since
March, the bloodiest violence since the Taliban's fall in 2001.
17 August 2005, Reuters
Mail
bomb kills girl in Vietnam
Vietnamese
police have just detained two people suspected of conducting a
mail bombing which killed an 18-year-old girl in northern Vietnam,
local newspaper News reported Monday.
The police also found 15 electric detonators, 13.5 lumps of explosive and 0.8 kg of long nails at one of the suspects' house. On Saturday, a parcel was sent to the owner of the Thanh Phuong restaurant in northern Quang Ninh province.
Because the owner was busy at that time, the girl named Nguyen Thi Thu, the owner's relative and also the restaurant's staff, opened the parcel's wrapping, causing an explosion. She died instantly.
According to the police initial investigation, the case stemmedfrom a conflict between the owner's family members and one of their employees.
In early
June, two local teenagers were killed and two others, all siblings,
severely injured when they plugged a cassette player found near
their house into an electric socket, causing an explosion. Local
police are still investigating into the case, which might have
been revenge.
15 August 2005,
Xinhuanet
City
terror attack 'inevitable'
It is only a matter of time before London's financial centre is
attacked by terrorists, police believe.
Potential targets in the Square Mile have been staked-out a number
of times but no arrests made, said City of London Police Commissioner
James Hart.
While the security "ring of steel" has been extended twice since 9/11, only half of firms have made contingency plans, he told the Financial Times.
Business group the CBI said "good links" have been formed with police.
"There is an ongoing dialogue," it told the BBC News website. "But more can always be done to raise awareness."
While there was no specific threat against the City, the mindset of terrorists meant that it was an "obvious target", said Mr Hart.
"If you want to hurt the government, hurt people at the same time, and you want to cause maximum disruption...where better to hit than at the financial centre?"
He added: "I think it is a matter of when, rather than if."
Mr Hart said the City of London had been a target for terror attacks for years, highlighting the number of times the area had been hit by the IRA.
In April 1992 three people were killed when a bomb exploded outside the Baltic Exchange and one person was killed in April 1993 when a bomb targeted the Bishopsgate area. Big business outside the City was targeted in 1996, when a large bomb was detonated in the Docklands.
Potential targets could now include prominent sites and business - "anywhere where the maximum damage can be inflicted on the financial systems," Mr Hart said.
The City of London police estimate that only half of City firms have made adequate provisions for a terrorist attack.
Chief executives need to take a greater role in developing security policies, Mr Hart said.
"I need to get the matter of security on to their business agendas, so it is a little bit of a call to sharpen up."
While many of the large City firms were taking the threat seriously, there was a need to "sensitise those people that are a little bit complacent about this kind of thing".
Mr Hart said the larger firms needed to put "a friendly arm around smaller businesses within their shadow" as not all companies could afford sophisticated security staff.
It is often a problem of insufficient time and money that prevents smaller firms from developing contingency plans, the Confederation of Small Businesses said.
It called for expert advice and tax breaks to be provided to the companies, many of which "have become more aware of their need to plan for emergencies and, in particular, terror attacks", since 9/11 and the London bombings.
Business lobby group London First says that 50% of companies are unprepared for a significant event, with small and medium companies particularly vulnerable.
It is estimated that 50% of firms that shut down temporarily in New York after 9/11 never reopened.
And the CBI says that only two-thirds of its members had conducted a strategic overall review of security in 2004, but it expects that after the London bombings businesses would take the threat more seriously.
10 August 2005, BBC
GAO urges training about suspicious mail
The Postal Service needs to develop more detailed training to prepare its workers to handle suspicious mail more carefully, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.
The GAO cited missteps in the handling of a letter containing the poison ricin that was found in the Greenville, S.C. post office in October 2003.
The letter, which contained a sealed vial, was labeled "Caution: Ricin Poison," GAO noted.
It said the letter was discovered around midnight and postal officials double wrapped it and removed it to an area away from workers, but did not call postal inspectors until the next day. Inspectors then called in local emergency officials and the letter was sent to the state health department and later to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
GAO said there was confusion about which rules to follow in handling the material. Rules for suspicious mail call for it not to be moved while rules for mail containing a specific hazard label differ.
Since the incident, the post office has made changes in its training and guidance to prevent such confusion, but GAO said more could be done.
It urged the Postal Service to:
_Provide guidance on what to do with mail that has characteristics both of suspicious mail and mail with a hazard warning.
_Expand training for managers and supervisors regarding suspicious mail.
_Provide more explicit guidance on communicating with employees and unions regarding such incidents.
Postal Senior Vice President Thomas G. Day responded that the agency is improving training and generally agrees with the suggestions. However, he cautioned that because of the many possibilities for terror attack it is not possible to design a set of hard and fast rules that take into account every potential situation.
Instead, Day
said, the agency seeks to provide general instructions that will
be widely applicable to many situations
8 August 2005, AP