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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
Tax
assessor threatened in Florida anthrax hoax
A federal health agency worker was charged with making a false
threat to infect Florida property assessors with anthrax for revoking
her tax exemption, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Michelle Ledgister, who works at the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, was arrested in Maryland on Monday, the U.S. Attorney's office said. An anti-terrorism law enacted last year makes it a federal crime to convey false information about anthrax exposure, punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
Anonymous anthrax attacks in 2001 caused panic on the heels of September 11 when they killed five people and sickened 17 others in the United States. The first poisoning was in South Florida, where a tabloid photo editor died after apparently receiving anthrax in the mail. No one has been charged in those cases.
Investigators said Ledgister, 43, left a phone message at the Broward County Property Appraiser's office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after it revoked a homestead exemption on property she owned in Florida, increasing her tax bill by $2,300 (1,298 pounds) a year.
"You guys now have anthrax spores once again. So do be careful," the arrest warrant quoted her as saying on the tape.
Hazardous materials teams searched the appraiser's office and found no anthrax.
Ledgister
is an analyst with the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infection
Disease in Maryland but had no access to anthrax as part of her
job, an FBI spokeswoman said.
2 August 2005, AP
Small
bomb explodes outside BA, BP offices in Iran
A small
bomb exploded outside the offices of British Airways, the BP oil
group and DaimlerChrysler in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday,
but there were no casualties, officials said.
They said the blast at 9.15 a.m. (0445 GMT) was caused by a bomb hidden in a rubbish bin in the hallway of a large tower block on the floor shared by the three international companies.
"I was sitting at my desk and suddenly we heard an explosion and there was smoke everywhere," said a witness who works in one of the offices.
"Everyone panicked, especially the BA office people who are mostly women, they started to scream and we ran out of the office. Windows were smashed, there was a lot of damage to the building, parts of the ceiling collapsed," he said.
Iran is locked in a tense stand-off with Britain, Germany and France over it nuclear program. Iran said on Monday it had begun the process of restarting some nuclear activities which the three countries have warned could lead to U.N. sanctions.
Asked if there was a connection between the bombing and the nuclear dispute, British Ambassador John Dalton said: "We have no information yet to suggest so ...
NO CASUALTIES
"I am very glad there were no casualties," he told reporters. "It is clearly a serious incident. We don't know who might be connected to this. I will ask British citizens and Iranian authorities to take additional precautions."
A Reuters witness said the wall of the hallway was blackened above a rubbish bin next to the lift on the 10th floor of the large modern building. The large glass door of the BA office was blown off and lying on the floor.
"We heard a bang and rushed out of the office and saw smoke in the corridor," Juergen Kuertz, manager of DaimlerChrysler in Iran, told Reuters. "The windows were smashed, but there was no one injured."
Police at the scene confirmed it was a bomb blast.
Iran's Interior Ministry said they had sent bomb disposal teams to the building.
A BA spokesman in London said: "There has been a very small explosion outside an office block used by a lot of Western companies, including BA which is on the 10th floor.
"There
was no damage to the BA office, but the office will be shut for
the rest of the day. I understand it was a very small device in
a bin," he said.
2 August 2005, Reuters
Two killed, one injured in bomb blast in
southeast Turkey
Two
non-commissioned officers were killed and a civilian was injured
when a bomb placed in a vehicle exploded in the southeastern Turkish
city of Hakkari, an official said.
Hakkari Deputy Governor Sezgin Ucuncu told the Anatolia news agency that police were currently trying to determine the identities of the slain soldiers.
A local official, who requested anonymity, had earlier told AFP that one person was injured in the blast on one of the main streets of the city bearing the same name as the province it is located in.
The governor's office did not respond to repeated AFP requests for comment.
An official at Ucuncu's office told AFP that there was no information yet on who was behind the blast as police were still collecting evidence.
Footage broadcast on the NTV news channel showed the vehicle ripped apart by the blast and dark plumes of smoke billowing from the wreckage as police took security measures around the site.
Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq, is a hotbed of activity by smuggling rings and Kurdish rebels who have recently intensified their armed campaign against the government.
The rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) took up arms against the government in 1984 for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country, with the conflict claiming some 37,000 lives.
The group, listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organisation, announced a unilateral ceasefire in 1999 to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict, but called off the truce last year on the grounds that Ankara's efforts to expand Kurdish freedoms were insufficient.
The PKK has
been blamed for a bomb attack in a popular seaside resort earlier
this month which killed five people including foreign tourists
29 July 2005, AP
Bomb
Kills 1, Injures 22 on Indian Train
A bomb
exploded Thursday on a passenger train in northern India, killing
at least one person and injuring 22, railway officials said.
Medical teams were sent to the scene of the explosion, near the town of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh state, about 400 miles east of New Delhi, officials said.
R.K. Singh, the top official for Indian Railways, said the explosion had been caused by a bomb but gave no further details. He said one person had been killed and 22 people were injured.
"Train passengers have been evacuated and the train is being searched by railway police," said Rajendra Singh, a railway official.
The train was traveling from the eastern city of Patna to New Delhi when the blast occurred in a crowded passenger car, officials said.
Earlier Thursday, police found a suitcase packed with 18 small bombs on a passenger train in eastern Bihar state, said Uday Kant Jha, a railway official in Patna, the state capital.
He said those bombs did not appear to be linked to the blast, although he gave no details.
The suitcase was found while the train was sitting in a station, he said. Four people had been detained in connection with the suitcase and were being questioned.
July 28 2005, AP
Bomb
Scare Empties NYC's Penn Station
A bomb scare emptied the nation's busiest commuter rail station
Sunday for about an hour, disrupting service on trains and subways.
The midday threat at Pennsylvania Station arose after someone threw a backpack at an Amtrak ticket agent and said it was a bomb, said Marissa Baldeo, a spokeswoman for New York City Transit.
It was a false alarm, and service on all lines was restored by early afternoon.
Amtrak spokeswoman Sarah Swain said railroad police had detained a man, but she did not know whether he had been arrested.
The incident came days after a second bombing attack in London, which prompted New York police to start random inspections of subway riders' bags.
Travelers seemed to take the disruption in stride.
Tim Allen, a Londoner headed from New York to Boston, said he endured similar false alarms at home recently. "This is the second time this has happened in two-and-a-half weeks to me," he said.
The service disruption affected Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and some New York subway lines.
Also Sunday,
a double-decker tourist bus was evacuated in midtown Manhattan
after a bus company supervisor became suspicious of five male
passengers with "stuffed" pockets. The supervisor called
police, who handcuffed the men and searched about 60 passengers
before determining there was no threat.
24 July 2005, AP
Egypt
investigates Sharm al-Sheikh bombings
Egyptian investigators are trying to determine whether the Sharm
al-Sheikh bombers helped stage the attacks in the resort of Taba
last October.
Officials believe the man who slammed his car into the reception
area of the Ghazala Gardens hotel may have been a suspect in the
previous car bombings.
Egypt's interior minister said a link between the two attacks seemed likely.
More than 70 people have been questioned over Saturday's attack, in which 64 people are confirmed dead.
The revised death toll has come from Egypt's health ministry, although hospital officials have said at least 88 people died. Most of those who died were Egyptian, although at least eight foreigners were killed.
Investigators have said there were two car bombs - the one outside the Ghazala Gardens and another in the Old Market area. A third bomb, set off in a parking area near the hotel, had been placed inside a suitcase.
Security officials told AP news agency that three attackers escaped before the blasts - one man who planted the suitcase bomb and two others who left the car bomb in the Old Market.
The attack in the Old Market killed 17 Egyptians who were at a street cafe, officials said.
In Sharm al-Sheikh, known in Egypt as the "City of Peace", hundreds of people marched through the Naama Bay area on Sunday evening in protest at the attacks.
They marched past the wreckage of the four-star Ghazala Gardens hotel, which is concealed behind a high, white tarpaulin.
Hotel workers, diving instructors and other local employees joined the march, lighting candles as night fell. They chanted slogans in support of peace and held banners which read "No to terrorism".
The BBC's Heba Saleh in Sharm al-Sheikh says the event was intended to send the message that the resort remains a welcoming place, but there was no mistaking the strength of the feelings expressed.
Two Islamist groups, one asserting links to al-Qaeda, have made unverified claims of responsibility for the attacks.
October's bombings, further north on the Sinai peninsula, killed 34 people, including many Israelis. It was seen as an offshoot of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and blamed by Egypt on disaffected Palestinians and local Bedouins.
The previous worst attack in Egypt was in 1997, when Islamic militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians near the southern city of Luxor.
The tourism industry - Egypt's most lucrative - has slowly recovered since that attack, but there are widespread fears that these latest bombings will deal it a fresh blow.
25 July 2005, BBC
12 wounded in Beirut bomb blast
Twelve people were slightly wounded in a bomb blast in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut shortly after a visit to Lebanon by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, police said.
The explosion late Friday was the latest in a string of attacks in the capital in recent months and caused panic in an area popular with weekend revellers.
Two vehicles were torched in the blast caused by a bomb placed under a parked car near the Rue Monot on the fringes of Christian east Beirut, according to the director general of internal security, General Ashraf Rifi.
The blast came just hours after Rice flew back to Jerusalem following a lightning visit in which she pledged her support for the "new Lebanon" ushered in by Syria's April troop pullout.
The bombing
was the latest of no fewer than nine such attacks that have hit
Lebanon already this year, most notoriously a February blast that
killed billionaire five-time premier Rafiq Hariri.
23 July 2005,
AFP
Bomb
Blast at Istanbul Cafe Wounds Three
A bomb exploded
Saturday at an Istanbul cafe frequented by tourists, wounding
at least three people, police said.
The blast at a cafe near the city's Galata bridge was caused by either a remote-controlled bomb or a bomb with a timer, police said.
The injured included a Dutch citizen and a Turk who worked at the cafe, the Anatolia news agency reported. There were no immediate details on the third wounded person, but police said none of the injuries was serious.
Police suspected Kurdish rebels were behind the attack.
A vendor selling grilled fish sandwiches about 100 yards from the cafe, said he felt a violent blast. Mashar Adanas said he saw people running out of the cafe shouting "bomb, bomb."
Mustafa Bulut, who was selling corn from a cart near the blast, said he also saw people running from the cafe.
"I turned around right away and everyone was running. Everyone panicked," Bulut said.
Last Saturday,
a bomb placed under a seat of a minibus in a popular Aegean beach
resort killed five people, including an Irish teenager and a British
woman. No group has claimed responsibility for that blast, but
suspicion also fell on Kurdish guerrillas.
23 July 2005,
AP
Boy sends bomb threat to protest bank service
A 10-year-old boy caused havoc at a bank in southern Poland when he dropped a fake bomb threat in a deposit box, apparently as a protest after his mother received slow service, police said Thursday.
Officers evacuated the bank in the city of Chorzow on Wednesday after an employee found a note threatening to "kill everyone with a bomb" if the bank did not hand over 50,000 zlotys ($14,600) within 24 hours.
"It turned out to be a 10-year-old boy who had been in the bank the day before with his mother ... apparently he was motivated by impatience at the length of time it took for her to complete formalities," said police spokesman Piotr Bieniak.
Police said
the matter had been referred to a court.
22 July 2005,
Reuters
Man
shot by armed police on Tube
A man has been shot at Stockwell Tube station by armed police
officers.
Passenger Mark Whitby told BBC News he had seen a man of Asian
appearance shot five times by "plain-clothes police officers"
with a handgun.
Passengers were evacuated from the Northern Line station in south London. Police have also cordoned off surrounding streets.
A mosque in east London has been evacuated after a bomb scare - but a police cordon has now been lifted.
Police are hunting four would-be bombers after Thursday's London blasts.
The bombers fled after detonators went off, causing small blasts, but failed to detonate the bombs themselves.
Services on the Victoria and Northern lines have been suspended following a request by the police, London Underground said.
Ambulances
including an air ambulance have been sent to the scene at Stockwell.
They pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded
five shots into him
Witness Mark Whitby
Mr Whitby, told BBC News: "I was sitting on the train reading
my paper.
"I heard a load of noise, people saying, 'Get out, get down'!
"I saw an Asian guy run onto the train hotly pursued by three plain-clothes police officers.
"One of them was carrying a black handgun - it looked like an automatic - they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him.
"I saw the gun being fired five times into the guy - he's dead."
Passenger Briony Coetsee said: "We were on the Tube and then we suddenly heard someone say, 'Get out, get out' and then we heard gunshots."
Passenger Alison Bowditch told BBC News: "The tube pulled into the station and we were sitting there, you know, as you do and then there was just a lot of shouting and the sound of gunfire and then people were saying, 'Get off, get off!'
"Somebody
definitely went to the ground and as they went to the ground I
heard gun fire and assumed they had been shot."
22 July 2005,
BBC
London
attackers 'meant to kill'
Four attempted bombings in London were designed to kill people,
the head of the Metropolitan Police has said.
The attacks came exactly two weeks after the explosions in the
capital which killed over 50 people.
Again devices were left on three Tubes and a bus but this time it is believed they only partially exploded.
Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Ian Blair said no-one had been taken to hospital after the blasts, which were minor and almost simultaneous.
"The intention of the terrorists has failed", he told reporters.
He added: "There is a report of one casualty at one hospital... who may or may not be connected to this."
Two men, one arrested in Whitehall, close to Downing Street, and another around Tottenham Court Road, have been released without charge.
BBC home affairs correspondent Margaret Gilmore said the inquiry was still at an early stage but she thought it likely that CCTV images would be released shortly.
Sir Ian said evidence left at the scenes could be very helpful to police.
An eyewitness at one of the affected tube stations spoke of hearing a bang and seeing a man with a rucksack flee the scene.
Mayor Ken Livingstone praised the emergency services and said the people of London would "get through this".
The attacks took place almost simultaneously, at about 1230 BST.
London's transport
system was quickly thrown into chaos, with a number of Tube lines
closed and roads shut off as cordons were established.
At Warren Street Tube station witnesses reported hearing a bang
at the front of a train, creating some panic among passengers.
Armed officers
were twice deployed to nearby University College Hospital, following
reports that someone had run away from Warren Street. Three unoccupied
rooms in the hospital remained cordoned off on Thursday evening.
Police later said they believed two people who had been arrested
in the area were unconnected to the blasts and had been released.
At Oval Tube station about 20 or 30 passengers were evacuated
from a train after seeing "white smoke". The RMT union's
security meeting was told the suspect used a handgun to try and
detonate explosives contained in a backpack, BBC London Transport
correspondent Andrew Winstanley said. There were reports that
bystanders tried to tackle a man as he fled the station.
At Shepherd's Bush a man was reported to have fled after the attack, on the Hammersmith and City Line.
On a Number 26 bus on the Hackney Road there was an explosion on the top deck. The windows of the bus, which was travelling from Waterloo to Hackney, were blown out, although there was no structural damage.
Tests for chemical, biological and radiological weapons at all four sites proved negative.
Many residents in areas near the Tube stations affected are still not able to return to their homes, with many waiting in community centres for the all-clear.
'Unexploded' devices
Sir Ian said there was a "resonance" with the bomb attacks which killed 52 people two weeks ago, but that it was too early to draw any conclusions about whether they were linked. The four bombers died in those attacks.
He said important information could be recovered by forensics experts. "From what I understand, some of the devices remain unexploded," he said.
Former government intelligence analyst Crispin Black said the possibility of examining the devices was significant: "This, in forensic terms, is bingo, this is as good as it gets."
BBC security correspondent Mark Urban said initial indications were that the devices were put together in a way very similar to those used two weeks ago.
He said there were suggestions that the rucksacks themselves, as well as the choice of three tube trains and one bus as targets, all suggested a similar method of attacks.
There was also speculation that the devices were so similar to those used two weeks ago that they may even have been part of the same batch.
'Someone stop him'
One eyewitness at Oval tube told how she heard a "big bang, like a balloon had popped but a lot louder" and the passengers moved away into another carriage.
"There was a guy still standing in the carriage.
"We pulled into Oval, we all got off on the platform and the guy just ran, started running up the escalator.
"Everyone was screaming 'someone stop him."
Sir Ian warned against "smearing" any particular community with the blame for Thursday's attacks.
"These are criminal acts and we are in pursuit of a set of criminals," he said.
Prime Minister Tony Blair urged people to carry on as before.
He said: "Everyone is canny enough to know what these people are trying to do....and that is to intimidate people and to scare them and to frighten them to stop them going about their normal business."
Ken Livingstone
said he was not su 21 July 2005, BBCrprised London had been attacked
again.
"Those people whose memories stretch back to the 70s, 80s
and 90s will remember there were horrifying bombing campaigns
in London," he said. "We got through that and we'll
get through this."
Mr Livingstone backed a police appeal for information on who may have been behind the attacks.
He said religious
leaders should remind their congregations of the immorality of
what had happened and that people should come forward even if
the was only "a remote possibility" that they could
help catch those to blame.
21 July
2005, BBC
Tube
cleared after minor blasts
Minor explosions using detonators only have sparked the evacuation
of three Tube stations and the closure of three lines, a BBC correspondent
has said.
Police cordoned off large areas around Warren Street, Oval and
Shepherd's Bush Tube stations.
A route 26 bus in Hackney Road in Bethnal Green had its windows blown out by a blast. There were no injuries.
Police in London say they are not treating the incidents as "a major incident yet".
One person was injured at Warren Street, although the person's condition is unknown.
The whole of the Northern Line has been suspended, along with the Victoria Line and the Hammersmith and City line.
London Underground went to an amber alert with trains taken to the next station and evacuated.
The BBC's Andrew Winstanley said
An eyewitness
at Oval station said there had been a small bang, and a man had
then run off when the Tube reached the station.
A spokesman for Stagecoach said the driver of the number 26 bus
travelling through Shoreditch had heard a bang on upper deck,
gone upstairs and seen the windows were blown out. The bus driver
was very shaken but said to be fine.
At Shepherd's Bush station, police told reporters that a man had threatened to blow himself up and then ran off.
Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street.
"I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning. "Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking."
The BBC's Rory Barnett said there had been no smoke on the platform at Warren St.
Liz Edwards, who works near Warren Street Underground station, said the area was full of activity.
"There are police, fire engines and ambulances all around there. A guy from our office had just come back from the station and said the police were aggressively keeping people away from the station and that you could not get anywhere near it."
If you are
in the areas concerned send us your comments.
21 July 2005, BBC
Thousands evacuated from NY mall in bomb
scare
Thousands of people were evacuated from one of the largest malls
in the United States on Wednesday in a bomb scare that shut the
suburban New York shopping plaza for 3-1/2 hours, police said.
The evacuation followed the discovery of a package that looked like a bomb in a third-floor men's room in the Palisades Center mall in West Nyack, New York, 30 miles northwest of New York City.
The device, which turned out not to be an explosive, was destroyed in a controlled detonation, said Clarkstown police spokesman Lt. Anthony Ovchinnikoff.
Police from several nearby towns assisted by state police and the Rockland County Sheriff's Department joined in the operation along with local fire departments, emergency services and police helicopters, which circled overhead the sprawling shopping center.
A bomb squad from Bergen County, New Jersey, was called in to help along with New Jersey state police.
The mall reopened for business about 7 p.m. (2300 GMT).
Police had
no suspects in the investigation, the Clarkstown police spokesman
said.
20July 2005
Bomb
alert hits hotel
A full scale bomb alert was triggered at a hotel in Scarborough
when a suspicious package was delivered.
The area around Scarborough Travel and Holiday Lodge, in Valley
Road, was cordoned off and guests evacuated. Traffic in nearby
streets came to a standstill as Scarborough police and a bomb
squad from Catterick attended.
Peter Ward, manager of Scarborough Travel and Holiday Lodge, called police after he became suspicious of a package delivered by Royal Mail at lunchtime yesterday.
He said: "The package was in a white jiffy bag, about 15 in size. It was heavy for its size and addressed to someone called Immam. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck and needed to find out what was inside. I don't take risks, so I called the police."
At 4.30pm the bomb squad from the Royal Logistics Corps from Catterick arrived with police escort from Helmsley.
A female member of the squad put protective clothing on and entered the hotel to take X-rays of the package which was in reception.
Chief Inspector, Ken Gill, said: "There was something on the X-ray the bomb team weren't happy with and that is why it took so long to decide what to do.
"We managed to trace the sender of the package who confirmed to us that it was in fact a battery for a respirator used to remove asbestos. The Army disposal team were the only people who could tell us whether the package was safe or not.
"We are happy it wasn't a deliberate hoax and was sent as a genuine package."
Deadly
blast in Turkey traced to package bomb
A Turkish official said Sunday that a package bomb — not
a suicide attacker — caused an explosion that killed five
people a day earlier at a popular resort on the Aegean Coast.
The authorities stepped up security at resorts to try to prevent
a repeat of the blast on Saturday. The victims included a British
woman and an Irish teenager, officials said.
Bomb experts completed on-scene investigations in the beach town
of Kusadasi and returned to Ankara, the Turkish capital, to evaluate
the evidence, said Mustafa Malay, the governor of Aydin Province.
''Right now, we have two possibilities,'' Malay said. ''It's possible
the explosive was timed or that it was remote controlled. There
was no suicide bomber.'' The bomb was placed under a seat near
the back of a minibus, Malay said.
Turkish investigators would not say whether they had zeroed in
on any suspects in the bombing, which tore off the top of the
minibus carrying vacationers to the beach, leaving a palm tree-lined
street strewn with twisted metal and the bodies of the dead and
wounded.
But Ambassador Peter Westmacott of Britain, visiting the wounded
in the hospital, told reporters that the authorities believed
the Kurdistan Workers Party, the main guerrilla group, had planted
the bomb.
Kurdish rebels have stepped up attacks in Turkey in recent months.
More than 37,000 people have died in Turkey since 1984 as a result
of fighting between the rebels and Turkish security forces. Leftist
and Islamic groups are also active in Turkey, and have been responsible
for previous bombings.
But the Kurdistan Workers Party on Sunday denied involvement and
condemned the attack.
The newspaper Hurriyet, meanwhile, said a group called the Kurdistan
Freedom Falcons Organization, believed linked to the Kurdistan
Workers Party, had claimed responsibility for the bombing, but
this could not be confirmed.
The Falcons, a hard-line group made up of Kurds that have moved
to Turkey's large cities, claimed responsibility for a bombing
attack in the nearby resort of Cesme on July 10 that wounded 21.
The group has vowed to continue attacks, and Malay, the governor,
said there were similarities between the Kusadasi and Cesme bombings.
He said the police were investigating a possible link between
the two.
A top commander of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Zubeyir Aydar,
condemned the attack in a statement Saturday to the Germany-based
Mezopotamya News Agency, which often carries rebel statements.
The party's military wing also issued a statement through Mezopotamya
on Sunday saying it had nothing to do with the bombing. It also
sought to distance itself from the Falcons in its statement Sunday,
pointing to the possibility of a split between the groups.
Turkey's largest legal pro-Kurdish party, Dehap, also condemned
the attack Sunday. ''We feel deep sadness and condemn the incident,''
the party leader, Tuncer Bakirhan, said in a statement.
The Foreign Office in London identified the Briton killed in the
blast as Helen Bennett, 21, while the Department of Foreign Affairs
in Dublin named the Irish victim as 17-year-old Tara Whelan. At
least 12 people, including five Britons, were wounded in the blast.
The wreckage was cleared and the street reopened on Sunday morning.
Condemnations and condolences poured in late Saturday and Sunday,
including from Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of France,
who called the attack ''disgusting'' and emphasized the importance
of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against terror.
After the bombings Saturday, the police and paramilitary personnel
with bomb-sniffing dogs began stopping and searching all vehicles
entering the Aegean resort towns of Bodrum and Marmaris, security
officials said. Dozens of additional police officers were also
sent as reinforcements from Mugla and Ankara Provinces.
The Foreign Office in London identified the Briton killed in the
blast as Helen Bennett, 21, while the Department of Foreign Affairs
in Dublin named the Irish victim as 17-year-old Tara Whelan. At
least 12 people, including five Britons, were wounded in the blast.
The wreckage was cleared and the street reopened on Sunday morning.
Condemnations and condolences poured in late Saturday and Sunday,
including from Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of France,
who called the attack ''disgusting'' and emphasized the importance
of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against terror.
After the bombings Saturday, the police and paramilitary personnel
with bomb-sniffing dogs began stopping and searching all vehicles
entering the Aegean resort towns of Bodrum and Marmaris, security
officials said. Dozens of additional police officers were also
sent as reinforcements from Mugla and Ankara Provinces.
18 July 2005, AP
Egyptian
arrested as bomb probe is widened
* British anti-terror officers leave for Cairo
* Magdy al-Nashar knew some of suicide bombers
The investigation into last week's terrorist attacks on London widened yesterday when Egyptian authorities confirmed the arrest of a chemist wanted in connection with the discovery of a bomb factory in Leeds.
British intelligence officials are working with their Egyptian counterparts in an investigation which became public yesterday when the interior ministry in Cairo confirmed that Magdy Mahmoud Mostapha al-Nashar, a 33-year-old Egyptian who trained as a biochemist in the UK and US, was being interrogated.
The news came as it emerged that British officials have briefed their overseas allies that the explosives used in the attacks and material found in Leeds were triacetone triperoxide, a weapon favoured by suicide bombers in the Middle East. The ingredients for the explosive - also known as TATP or Mother of Satan - are widely available in pharmacies and hardware stores.
Anti-terrorist officers and bomb disposal experts have been searching a flat linked to Mr Nashar in Leeds, home to three of the four men suspected of carrying out suicide bomb attacks which killed at least 54 people in rush hour on Underground trains and a bus.
The developments in the investigation came as Charles Clarke, home secretary, outlined sweeping new counter-terror laws to be introduced in a bill this autumn. The government will make the indirect incitement of terrorism and providing or receiving terrorist training a criminal offence. "Acts preparatory to terrorism" will also be outlawed.
People going to overseas training camps or trying to find out how to build a bomb on the internet could be prosecuted under the legislation too. Opposition parties raised questions about the workability of the legislation and said they would reserve judgment until more details emerged.
Sir Ian Blair, metropolitan police commissioner, yesterday warned of a "very strong possibility" of further attacks. He said he expected a "clear al-Qaeda link" to emerge as the focus of the investigation shifted towards identifying those behind the bombers. "What we have got to find is who encouraged them, who trained them, who is the chemist?" he said.
Security sources said Mr Nashar knew some of the suicide bombers. But the police have not named him as a suspect. Mr Nashar has denied any connection to the bombings, according to the Egyptian interior ministry.
UK police said last night that MI5 was liaising closely with Egyptian intelligence and that British anti-terrorist officers were on their way to Cairo.
The investigation also spread to Pakistan, where at least one of the bombers was known to have travelled recently.
Officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation were also looking into Mr Nashar's record while he was a student in North Carolina in the late 1990s.
Last night,
the family of Hasib Mir Hussain, one of the identified suicide
bombers, issued a statement, saying: "We had no knowledge
of his activities and had we done we would have done everything
in our power to stop him."
18 July 2005
Bomb
kills three UK troops in Iraq
Three British soldiers died, and two others were injured, in a
roadside bomb blast in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said.
The bomb went off as the troops were patrolling in the Risaala
neighbourhood of central Al Amarah early this morning.
The soldiers killed were all from 1st Battalion the Staffordshire Regiment, an MoD spokesman said.
About 600 troops from the regiment have been deployed in the area as part of Task Force Maysan, a battle group that also includes a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks from The King's Royal Hussars, soldiers from No 1 Company, Coldstream Guards and a company from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Wales.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "We can confirm that three soldiers have died from injuries sustained in hostile action.
"Two other soldiers were hurt, but their injuries are not life-threatening and they are being treated at a field hospital.
He added: "We think it was a roadside bomb."
The spokesman said no details of those killed would be released until next of kin had been informed.
The Task Force has been based at Camp Abu Naji, just outside the city - which has a population of about 300,000 and was the scene of explosive violence last year - since April. One of its main duties during a six-month tour is to carry out patrols of the Maysan Province area, which is near the Iranian border, in Warrior armoured vehicles.
The deaths
bring the total number of British personnel who have died in Iraq
as a result of combat, accident or natural causes to 92.
18 July 2005
Bomb
explodes at Afghan poll office
Thursday's blast exploded in the capital of Khost province
A bomb has exploded at a voter registration office in southeastern Afghanistan, wounding two policemen, an official says.
A policeman guarding the office and his supervisor, who had stopped there during a routine security patrol, were wounded in the blast late on Thursday in the capital of Khost province, said Mohammed Ayub, the province's police chief.
The men suffered minor injuries.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but on Friday Ayub blamed "enemies of the election," an indirect reference to Taliban fighters ousted from power in late 2001.
"The entire country of Afghanistan knows who these enemies are. They are trying to sabotage security before the elections," he said.
Afghanistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in September.
The authorities have expressed concern over a steady stream of Taliban attacks against the government, saying they could threaten the vote, seen as a key step towards stability.
The attack comes amid an unprecedented spate of bloodshed that has left more than 700 people dead in three months and threatened to unhinge three years of progress towards peace in Afghanistan.
US and Afghan officials have warned that the violence is likely to worsen in the lead-up to the elections.
Suspected
Taliban fighters have been particularly active in Khost, near
the Pakistan border, in recent months.
15 July 2005, Reuters
Man
badly injured by letter bomb in Spain
A man was seriously injured when a letter bomb exploded as he
opened it at his home in the northwestern city of La Coruna, Spanish
state radio said on Thursday.
Police were investigating the explosion, which shattered car windows in the street outside, the radio said.
On Tuesday, a metal coffee pot packed with explosives blew up in the doorway of the Italian Culture Institute in Barcelona on Tuesday, slightly wounding a policeman.
Later the same day, four bombs exploded near a power station in Spain's Basque country after a warning from Basque separatist guerrillas ETA. They caused no damage or injuries.
14 July 2005, Reuters
Suicide
car bomb kills at least 25 in Baghdad
At least 25 people, many of them children, were killed and 25
more wounded on Wednesday by a suicide car bomb near a patrol
where U.S. forces were handing out sweets in Baghdad, police sources
said.
A duty policeman at the Kindi hospital said 25 dead bodies and 25 wounded had arrived there.
"Most of them are children. The Americans were handing out sweets at the time of the attack," he said.
U.S. troops said one U.S. soldier and many Iraqi civilians were killed by the blast, including at least seven Iraqi children. Three U.S. soldiers were among the wounded.
"The vehicle, laden with explosives, drove up to a (U.S. military) Humvee before detonating. Many Iraqi civilians, mostly children, were around the Humvee at the time of the blast," U.S. military spokesman Sergeant David Abrams said.
A Reuters
television cameraman at the scene shortly after the bombing said
the vehicle blew up in between houses, reducing parts of three
houses to rubble. Women in the street screamed in anger and sorrow
near pools of blood in the street.
13 July 2005, AP
Al Qaeda Sent Bomb Package to Italian Police
The Turkish Security General Directorate has disclosed that Al Qaeda had attempted attacks in Italy was formerly prevented, which is one of the possible targets of the terrorist organization.
An intelligence report compiled from foreign secret services by the Directorate includes a chapter called "Activities of Al-Qaeda" which talks about the organization's attempts to attack Italy. The report obtained by Zaman reveals that five Al Qaeda bombing attempts in 2003 were arrested. According to the report Al-Qaeda has a new explosion made of nitro cellulite undetected by security controls. The report quotes Italian counter-terror authorities who warned all security units in the European countries that Al-Qaeda was preparing for an operation to test the new explosion. The Al-Qaeda attack attempts listed in the report are:
In June 2003, a bomb was found in Rome. On October 8 2003, experts defused a bomb found in front of the Spanish Airline Iberia's Rome office. On October 16 2003, the Rome Security Directorate received a letter bomb via mail. The bomb which had a mass destructive capability, was defused just in time. On October 12, 2003 a bomb was found in a package in Cagliari Airlines in Sardinia Island defused by the police. The baggage gate of an Alitalia Airlines plane was damaged the same day and the defused bomb was intended for plane.
Quoting a
US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) source the report
says Al-Qaeda may attempt a hijacking in Turkey.
12 July 2005,
Zamman Online
Policeman
hurt by small bomb in Barcelona
A small home-made
bomb exploded in the Italian Culture Institute in Barcelona on
Tuesday, slightly injuring a policeman, news media reported.
The local
government said only that there had been an explosion at the institute,
but radio reports said it was a bomb and that police were investigating
the possibility that an Italian anarchist group could be responsible.
12 July 2005,
Reuters
Bomb wounds 14 in Trinidad capital
A bomb exploded in a trash bin in downtown Port-of-Spain on Monday, injuring 14 people, police said.
The commercial district was evacuated and the area checked for additional bombs, but none were located, Deputy Police Commissioner Glen Roach said.
"We have no idea of the kind of device used nor who is behind it," Roach said.
Kenrick Bethelmy, spokesman for the Trinidad fire department, said most of the injuries appeared to be minor, except for those of a 26-year-old street vendor and a woman passer-by. Bethelmy described their condition as "life-threatening."
Local media reported that a man was seen placing a package in the garbage bin shortly before the afternoon explosion at a busy intersection in the capital of the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The site of the blast is two blocks from the national Parliament, which was meeting at the time.
Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he directed the national security minister and police to use all resources to catch those responsible. Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown called for extra security precautions.
The former
British colony of 1.3 million people, located off the northern
coast of South America, is the most prosperous member of the 15-member
Caribbean Community, thanks to its petroleum and natural gas deposits.
In recent years, it has become the leading supplier of liquid
natural gas to the United States, supplying 75 percent of imports
last year.
11 July 2005,
AP
Bomb
false alarms keep European cities on edge
Bomb threats
have left European cities on edge after blasts in London that
killed at least 52 people last week, with residents wondering
where the next attack will hit and trying to cope with nerve-rattling
false alarms.
Londoners, still recovering from Thursday's bombing of three underground stations and a double-decker bus, have had to grapple with a series of threats and evacuations.
On Monday, Whitehall, a street that houses many government offices, was evacuated and sealed off for over 30 minutes as police investigated a "suspect package." King's Cross station was also closed briefly due to a security alert.
But London is not alone.
Italy and Denmark -- like Britain, key allies in the U.S.-led military operation in Iraq -- have also been the target of bomb scares and menacing Internet messages that threaten to become a daily fixture.
"Of course we're afraid, but what can we do? We still have to go to work, we still have to use the Metro to get there," said Adriano Lardera, 64, as he walked out of Milan's crowded Duomo metro station by the city's cathedral.
"Life goes on. And if it happens, it happens."
"There is no reason for particular alarmism," said Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini after a reporter asked if he thought Italy would be next. "But there is even less reason not to act with conviction and determination."
In recent days, Rome has had to evacuate a terminal at its international airport, a street near the interior minister's home and the main offices of a major bank. Officials in Copenhagen have meanwhile emptied train and underground stations three times to examine suspicious luggage.
All the incidents have proven to be false alarms, but they have left Europeans twitchy and afraid. Even fairly commonplace power failures and train delays have sparked moments of panic.
Shortly after the London attacks, a group claiming links to al Qaeda said it was responsible for the bombs and threatened to target Italy and Denmark next if they didn't withdraw troops.
The Internet message and similar claims by two other little-known Islamist groups are being treated with caution but security measures across Europe have been stepped up.
Public transport has come under particular scrutiny, with uniformed officers and plainclothes police patrolling train, subway and bus stations.
Spain, another U.S. ally, withdrew its troops from Iraq after bombs ripped through four trains in Madrid, killing 191 people, in March 2004.
Commuters and consumers are trying to come to terms with their new reality.
"I was thinking about the attacks today. I considered if I should take the train," Helle Bovbjerg, 34 told Danish daily Ekstra Bladet.
"There is a certain shock effect, but you have to live life like before. Otherwise you would go crazy." (Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques in Milan, Kim McLaughlin in Copenhagen and London bureau).
11 July 2005, Reuters
Man gets 19 years for mailing fake anthrax letters to abortion clinics
Clayton Lee Waagner, a self-proclaimed terrorist who mailed phony anthrax letters to abortion clinics in 24 states, was sentenced to 19 years in prison Thursday.
Waagner sent many threatening letters from a FedEx facility in Philadelphia in October and November 2001 during the height of the anthrax scares that followed the Sept. 11 attacks.
"He wanted to exploit the moment," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard P. Barrett said, "to use the anxiety and panic caused by those other terrorist acts to fuel his own brand of terror."
The frightening letters signed by the "Army of God" contained a mysterious powder, sometimes "Bacillus thuringiensis, an otherwise harmless insecticide that triggers false-positive results in field tests for anthrax.
At the time, Waagner, 48, a former computer programmer, was a fugitive, having escaped from prison in Illinois by picking a lock with a comb and wriggling through a roof drain. He became the first man to simultaneously appear on most-wanted lists for the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service.
In one threat against abortion clinics, Waagner said: "We cannot defend the pre-born child in the Senate, nor in the courts. You've won those battles. ... We will fight you on the streets of America."
In 2003, a federal jury in Philadelphia convicted Waagner of 51 charges, including extortion, threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act.
In all, officials said, Waagner sent hundreds of letters with fake anthrax to clinics. At trial, abortion clinic workers told jurors of the terror they felt opening the letters, and an FBI agent testified about 18-hour days the bureau spent chasing Waagner.
Waagner represented himself and said in closing arguments that he was "tickled" that some recipients were still traumatized.
He also told the jury: "It's been clearly demonstrated that I am the antiabortion extremist, a terrorist to the abortion industry. There's no question there that I terrorized these people any way I could. ... I did it systematically; I did it over a period of time. I worked as hard as I could to do that."
At sentencing, federal prosecutors sought a life term.
"Such a sentence would recognize the scope and gravity of these terrorism offenses," Barrett said. Waagner's "extensive criminal record ... demonstrates that he is an extremely dangerous person."
8 July, Philadelphia Times
U.S.
Increases Threat Level for Mass Transit
Security experts and members of Congress urged the Bush administration
yesterday to step up long-term security efforts to protect the
nation's mass-transit riders after the deadly explosions that
struck London's subway and bus system.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff raised the threat level to orange, or high risk, for mass transit yesterday, enacting a series of short-term protective measures, including more police officers, extra barriers, increased video surveillance, and added inspections of trash bins and other potential hiding places for bombs. In addition, he urged transit authorities to increase inspections of passengers and their bags in some areas.
There is no "specific, credible evidence of an attack that's imminent in the United States," Chertoff said in Washington yesterday. "We feel that, at least in the short term, we should raise the level here because, obviously, we're concerned about the possibility of a copycat attack."
At the same time, Chertoff urged Americans to continue using public transportation. "This is not an occasion for undue anxiety," he said.
Since terrorists bombed trains in Madrid on March 11, 2004, the Transportation Security Administration has taken some steps to improve security for mass transit, but its budget for airline security dwarfs that of rail, subway and other ground efforts. Officials have conducted vulnerability assessments of rail systems, hired rail inspectors and run tests of explosives-detection technology at some locations -- such as the Metro station in New Carrollton. But security experts said the efforts have resulted in few substantive improvements.
"Madrid was a big wake-up call to us, yet we did relatively little," said Clark Kent Ervin, the former Homeland Security inspector general who is now at the Aspen Institute. "It really seems to me a matter of time before it happens in our country -- in part because it's so easy to do."
From 1998 to 2003, 181 attacks have occurred on transit systems worldwide, resulting in 431 deaths and several thousand injuries, according to Rand Corp., an independent research group. Most were carried out by separatist groups.
The FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies did not detect any signs of an attack before the bombings in London yesterday, but U.S. authorities are reviewing recent reports to make sure no clues were missed, officials said.
A senior administration official acknowledged the difficulty U.S. authorities have had in trying to figure out how to protect the public transportation systems against attacks. He said that because of the sharp focus on aviation security, terrorists are looking for new targets. "Public transportation remains very vulnerable. We've known this -- we knew this even before Madrid," said the official, who works on U.S. defense policy.
Experts said transit systems, particularly subways that move rapidly through multiple stations, remain attractive to terrorists because it is easy for them to plant explosives and escape.
"The notion that you can, with 100 percent certainty, prevent this kind of incident from happening in the U.S. or anywhere else is absurd," said K. Jack Riley, a Rand Corp. transportation security expert. "The unsatisfying answer to the public in how to prevent these incidents stretches back to having a comprehensive strategy to reduce the appeal to this radical ideology and efforts to disrupt and demobilize" terrorist groups, he said.
The move to code orange marks the first time the terrorist threat level has been raised since August 2004, when Homeland Security officials increased the level for financial sectors in three northeastern cities because of evidence that terrorist operatives had cased buildings before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Many of the nation's 14 million daily mass-transit commuters noticed new security measures yesterday morning on their way to work before the announcement. At 6 a.m., New York City was one of the first to begin adding police officers to transit systems, and city officials reported no noticeable decrease in ridership. The police department doubled its normal number of 3,000 officers assigned to the mass-transit system and put an officer on every train during the morning commute. City and state agencies are monitoring the city's water supply and air for biological and chemical weapons.
Some wary New Yorkers said the London bombings had them rethinking their subway routes and plans for the day. "I didn't want to go to work anymore, but I had to take a chance," said accountant Michael Johnson, 41, on his way to lunch. "I tried to leave home a little earlier and miss the morning rush."
On Boston's T subway system, a message repeatedly asked passengers to be on the lookout for suspicious activities "now more than ever" and gave a phone number to call to report anything out of the ordinary. "If you see something, say something," the message said.
Passengers became confused at midday, when Boston's green line, one of the city's busiest public transit routes, was shut down because of a minor collision between two trains that injured at least one person. Commuters streamed out of the subway and onto shuttle buses, escorted by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials and state police. Many stopped to ask if the closure of the line was related to the attacks in London. "Just an unfortunate coincidence," a policeman said.
In Chicago, officials monitored the 2,000 surveillance cameras stationed across the city. Police with bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled the El train's orange line, where riders said they had no choice but to use the system to get to work and other activities.
"I'm sure people are concerned it can happen here, you never know," said former Marine Hank Lemecha, 58, in Chicago. But he added: "I'm more worried about the train falling off the track since we're 110 feet up."
Amtrak said it stepped up security across its national system yesterday, including deploying bomb-sniffing dogs at rail stations and adding more law enforcement officers to patrol the areas. Since the Madrid bombings, Amtrak now requires identification for people buying train tickets at the counter, and employees check IDs randomly as passengers board trains, a spokeswoman said.
Riley and other security experts said the federal government could do more to improve mass-transit security by increasing camera surveillance, inspecting trash bins more thoroughly and expanding training of employees and passengers to report suspicious packages.
The American Public Transportation Association said its members, who operate municipal transit systems in U.S. cities, need $6 billion in security improvements, with a priority on expanding the ranks of police officers. "The reality is the federal government's funding is woefully inadequate," said Rose Sheridan, spokeswoman for the group. "Since 9/11, the aviation industry received $18.1 billion. The public transit agencies have received $250 million and there's 16 times more riders on public transit."
On Capitol Hill yesterday, Democrats and some Republicans vowed to add millions of dollars to the Homeland Security Department's 2006 budget for rail, bus and other transit security, even though similar efforts have not passed in previous years. Homeland Security missed a congressional deadline earlier this year to provide a strategic plan for how to protect the nation's transportation systems. The plan was to be used as a guide for spending.
"We're going to have to refine what it is we're trying to do and TSA has just not done that. What do we do to screen people on mass transit? How can we do it?" said Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee. "In spite of everyone's pleading with them, we haven't been able to get TSA to focus on mass-transit security."
8 July, Washington Post
38
dead in London blasts
A series of explosions ripped through London today as suspected
terrorist attacks on tube trains and a bus killed at least 38
people, plunging the capital into chaos.
The Metropolitan police confirmed 35 deaths in the three tube
blasts, and two further fatalities on a double-decker bus gutted
by a bomb. Another person died later in hospital. The London ambulance
service said it had treated 45 people with serious or critical
injuries, including burns and amputations, and another 300 people
with minor injuries. London hospitals reported treating hundreds
of wounded. Police said the overall number of wounded was as high
as 700.
Police also said no one remained trapped on tube trains, and that there was no intelligence that any further bombs were on the network.
The death toll could be at least 50, according to the French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who was quoting a conversation he had held with the home secretary, Charles Clarke.
"I've spoken to the British interior minister twice today... He told me that the provisional toll was 50 dead, 300 wounded, including 50 very seriously," Mr Sarkozy said on France 2 television.
Tony Blair said it was "reasonably clear" that the blasts were the work of terrorists, and added that it was "particularly barbaric" that attacks had been timed to coincide with the start of the G8 summit. The prime minister left the summit venue, Gleneagles, in Scotland, to return to London.
With Mr Blair in the capital, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, took on the chairmanship of the G8, which is meeting for its annual summit to discuss climate change and development issues.
Mr Straw said today's blasts, which bore some similarities to the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, had the "hallmarks of an al-Qaida related attack".
He said neither the police nor the intelligence services had been given any warning of the attacks.
Mr Blair returned to Gleneagles tonight, touching down in his helicopter at 9pm BST, to rejoin the other seven G8 leaders.
Earlier in the day he lined up with them to condemn the London bombs as "barbaric attacks".
"All of our countries have suffered from terrorism ... We are united in our resolve to confront and defeat this terrorism that is not an attack on one nation but on all nations and on civilised society everywhere," he said.
He insisted the G8 leaders would continue their discussions and would not allow the terrorists to halt a summit aimed at helping the world's poorest people.
After arriving in London he said that the "most intense police and security service action" was ongoing "to make sure we bring those responsible to justice".
Mr Blair indicated he believed those responsible were Islamist terrorists. They "act in the name of Islam" but most Muslims worldwide "deplore this act of terrorism", he said.
The police refused to speculate on who had carried out the attacks, but said they had received neither a warning nor a claim of responsibility. BBC Monitoring said it had found a website carrying a brief statement in which an al-Qaida-related organisation claimed responsibility for today's blasts.
London Underground said the whole of its system would remain shut down today, although service would be resumed on the Docklands Light Railway. Transport for London said central London buses would start running again over the course of the afternoon. Tim O'Toole of London Underground said he aimed to have the tube back in service tomorrow, though services on some lines would be severely restricted.
The police said the first blast occurred at 8.51am on a tube train about 100 metres into a tunnel from Liverpool Street station. Seven people died. The second blast, with the highest confirmed death toll so far, came five minutes later on a tube train on the Piccadilly line near King's Cross. Police confirmed 21 deaths.
At 9.15am, a third explosion hit a train in Edgware Road station, blowing a hole through the wall of a second train and possibly affecting a third. The explosion killed seven people.
The final blast came half an hour later on a number 30 bus at Tavistock Square, near Russell Square.
Police said there were "many casualties" and confirmed two fatalities. The blast ripped the red double-decker bus apart, peeling away its sides, blowing off the roof and leaving the few remaining seats exposed.
Amid the confusion, early reports spoke of seven attacks, as incidents were reported by those in stations at both ends of the affected track. The first reports blamed power problems on the tube but it soon became clear the capital had been targeted by what the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, called terrible "co-ordinated attacks".
Scotland Yard set up a casualty bureau for people to call if they were worried about loved ones. The number is 0870 1566 344.
Hospitals deal with horrific injuries
The Royal London hospital said it had treated 208 people, including 10 with critical injuries. The Royal Free hospital treated 55 people, and University College hospital treated another 50.
St Mary's hospital, in Paddington near Edgware Road, said later it had received 36 casualties, of whom six were critically injured, 17 seriously injured and 13 had minor injuries. Julian Nettle, of St Mary's hospital, said that staff were dealing with injuries such as the loss of limbs and head wounds, as well minor injuries, including temporary hearing loss.
Emergency services treated survivors outside tube stations; there were walking wounded covered in blood and soot. Survivors described seeing bodies in the wreckage.
'There were loads of people screaming'
Belinda Seabrook said she saw the explosion rip though the double-decker bus as it approached Tavistock Square, between Euston and Russell Square stations. "I was on the bus in front and heard an incredible bang. I turned round and half the double-decker bus was in the air," she said.
Police would not comment on whether the bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber.
Simon Corvett, 26, from Oxford, was on the eastbound train leaving Edgware Road tube station when the explosion on that train happened. "All of a sudden there was this huge bang. It was absolutely deafening and all the windows shattered. The glass did not actually fall out of the windows, it just cracked. The train came to a grinding halt and everyone fell off their seats," he said.
Mr Corvett, who works in public relations, said the commuter train was absolutely packed. He said: "There were just loads of people screaming and the carriages filled with smoke. You couldn't really breathe and you couldn't see what was happening. The driver came on the Tannoy and said: 'We have got a problem; don't panic.'"
Mr Corvett joined other passengers to force open the train doors with a fire extinguisher. He said the carriage on the other track was destroyed. "You could see the carriage opposite was completely gutted. There were some people in real trouble."
Public told to avoid London
The public were warned to stay clear of London for non-essential journeys. A Network Rail spokesman said southbound services into the capital were terminating at Watford, with no onward bus transfers, but services began to resume later in the day. The total shutdown of the Underground system is thought to be unprecedented.
Earlier the home secretary, Charles Clarke, had urged people to stay at home until further notice, telling them not to go into central London. Police asked people working in the centre of the capital to begin making their way home early to avoid the usual 5pm rush hour.
7 July 2005, The Guardian
Postal
IED kills 3 - Africa
Three people were killed after a Postal IED (parcel bomb) exploded
outside a house in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape. The motive
for the attack and the perpetrators are unknown. Investigations
revealed that the device hads contained a 60mm mortar bomb, normally
used by the South African Defence Forces.
27 June 2005
