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Shoe bomb 'came from Netherlands'
Dutch authorities are investigating reports that Richard Reid, the British man accused of trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his shoe on a flight from Paris to Miami, bought the alleged explosives in Amsterdam.
Vincent van Steen, a spokesman for the Dutch secret service, said investigators were looking into the reports and that it was "very probable" Mr Reid had been in the Dutch capital recently. Mr Reid is reported to have told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he bought explosives in Amsterdam for $1,500 and that he found the sellers via the internet. Mr Reid appeared in court in Boston for a second time on Friday morning, where a judge ordered that he continue to be held in custody.
In his first court appearance on Monday, Mr Reid was charged with endangering the passengers and crew on the American Airlines flight last weekend. Material in his shoes is reported to have been tested and shown signs of the presence of PETN, used to make the plastic explosive Semtex.
Investigators around the world have been trying to trace Mr Reid's recent movements, and to link him with terrorist groups. So far the Israeli airline El Al has confirmed Mr Reid was in the country in July, while US media reports say that captured fighters from Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation recognised him as someone they had seen in Afghanistan.
A US congressman who has been briefed on the investigation said the alleged bomb's sophistication suggested Mr Reid had help. And Abdul Haqq Baker, the chairman of the south London mosque which the suspect attended some years ago, says he doubts Mr Reid could have acted alone.
Zacarias Moussaoui - the only person so far charged in connection with the 11 September terror attacks in the US - worshipped at the same mosque in Brixton. Mr Reid is also known to have flown to Israel, on the country's national carrier El Al, in July. An airline spokesman told the BBC that he aroused suspicion when he checked in. His shoes and belongings were thoroughly checked, before he was allowed to board the flight. Israeli press reports said he had spent a week in Israel and then left for Egypt from Palestinian-administered Gaza.
Mr Reid's mother, Lesley Hughes, who lives in England, issued a statement through a lawyer saying she knew of the matter.
Friday, 28 December, 2001, BBC News
Philippines police have defused a 20kg bomb in Manila after hundreds of offices workers and a number of foreign diplomats were evacuated from nearby buildings.
Police said two controlled blasts disarmed a box of full of explosive material opposite the Philippine Stock Exchange, in the Makati financial district of Manila. There was no damage or injuries.
President Gloria Arroyo said possible suspects included a rebel Muslim group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front blamed for a series of blasts in Manila last December, which killed at least 20 people.
Friday, 21 December, 2001, BBC News
Blast rocks Chinese McDonald's
An explosion in a crowded McDonald's restaurant in the western Chinese city of Xian has killed one person and injured 27 others, officials say.
A brief report said an investigation was under way but did not name any suspects or offer a motive for the apparent attack.
The blast on Saturday came a day after 23 explosions in two cities in southern Guangdong province that killed five people and injured seven. It is not known whether Saturday's explosion has any connection with Friday's blasts.
The head of McDonald's in Xian, Wang Xinwu, told the Associated Press news agency he did not know if the store had been deliberately targeted. He said they had not received a warning before the explosion. Police said Friday's attacks were the work of a local businessman who had targeted his in-laws and others with whom he had economic and debt disputes.
Twenty of the explosions were in Zhanjiang city, where the suspect Lin Guojian lived, the official Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying.
Lin blew himself up, police said. Reports said Lin had taught himself how to make bombs and he used a mobile phone and electronic devices to detonate some of them.
Bombings are on the rise in China, where explosives are cheap and easy to buy.
Sunday, 16 December, 2001, BBC News
Car explosion kills two in Yemen
Two people have been killed and three injured when a car exploded in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, a security official said.
The car exploded as it was being driven through the northern al-Hasba neighbourhood of city. "The driver and the passenger sitting next to him were killed, while the passengers in the back seat were injured," the official said.
It is not yet clear what caused the explosion, and police have rushed to the scene to investigate.
In February a car belonging to an elections official was bombed. Last October a suicide bombing in the southern port of Aden killed 17 US sailors aboard the American warship USS Cole.
8 December, 2001, BBC News
Israel launches new Gaza raids
After a lull of 48 hours, Israel has renewed its attacks on the Palestinian territories with an air raid and a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
At around the same time, Israeli tanks and troops entered the Palestinian camp at Khan Yunis in the south of Gaza, raiding homes and making arrests. The military action marks a renewal of retaliatory strikes launched after suicide bombers killed 25 Israelis at the weekend.
The Israeli army said in a statement that Friday's bomb strikes were aimed against "Palestinian Authority bodies that support and aid terrorist activity".
7 December, 2001, BBC News
Hoax bomb alert at Belfast airport
Major disruption to the travel plans of hundreds of people has been caused at Belfast International Airport by a hoax bomb alert.
At about 1700 GMT on Wednesday, callers to a newsroom and to the airport, north of Belfast in County Antrim, said several bombs had been left in the car park in front of the terminal building. Army bomb experts carried out an extensive search but no bombs were found.
Hundreds of passengers who arrived at the terminal on flights were kept inside the building in the arrivals lounge during the three-hour alert.
The police had said they were treating the bomb warnings very seriously. It followed a number of recent incidents for which dissident republicans were blamed.
There was a hoax alert at the airport on Friday night. In August, dissident republicans were blamed for leaving a bomb in the car park of the airport. Controlled explosions were carried out by the Army on a car which contained 20kg of home-made explosives which had been left in the long-stay car park close to the airport terminal. Rail device found The device was found after telephone warnings.
On Tuesday the Army defused a bomb containing 35kg of home-made explosives found under a railway line at the Irish border, for which the Real IRA dissident republican group is believed to have been responsible. The device was discovered at Killeen Bridge near Newry in County Down, following a six day security alert in the area after a telephone bomb warning.
5 December, 2001, BBC News
The army has defused a bomb containing 35kg of home-made explosives which was found under a railway line at the Irish border.
The device was discovered at Killeen Bridge near Newry in County Down, following a six day security alert in the area.
The track between Newry and Dundalk in County Louth, was closed last Thursday after police received telephoned bomb warnings. On Tuesday evening, the police said the security alert had ended and an "improvised explosive device" had been made safe. The Newry to Dundalk road was also closed for almost two days because of the alerts, which were blamed on dissident republican paramilitaries.
The alerts began just after 1900 GMT on Thursday when police in Dundalk, County Louth, and police in Northern Ireland received a number of telephone bomb warnings. The disruption came as the North-South Ministerial Council, set up under the Good Friday Agreement, met in Dublin.
Cross-border rail services have been severely disrupted by security alerts in the past. At one stage, a cross-border rail link was closed for six days, following reports of explosions near Newry.
Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White, who was in charge of the operation, said the threat from the Real IRA should not be underestimated. "In terms of the weaponry, in terms of technical ability and technical expertise, it is a very real threat," he said. "The numbers may not be as large as the Provisional republican terrorist movement. "But certainly in relation to the threat, it is very real."
5 December, 2001, BBC News
Bangkok blast hits supermarket
Thai police investigating an anti-tank rocket attack on a Bangkok building containing the office of the Israeli airline El Al say the blast appeared to be unrelated to events in the Middle East.
There are no reports of deaths or injuries. Police say the most likely target was a neighbouring branch of the Tesco Lotus supermarket. The grocery chain has been the target of several attacks since July.
Bangkok police chief Anon Piromkaeu said the attack appeared to be an act of intimidation as part of an ongoing business conflict.
Police say they found an M-72 anti-tank rocket launcher dumped in a refuse bin by an entrance to the 15-storey Manorom building shortly after the explosion. Investigators said the rocket hit the Tesco Lotus supermarket, causing some damage, before striking the fourth floor of Manorom where it exploded, causing minor damage and smashing windows. The El Al office is on the 14th floor of the Manorom building.
In July, a bomb in a shopping trolley killed one of Tesco's employees and injured a male customer. Two men were arrested at the scene. The men said they worked for a security firm which had recently lost its contract to guard Tesco's 30 supermarkets in Thailand. Local firms have complained about Tesco's presence and said they cannot compete.
5 December, 2001, BBC News
Two bombs have exploded in the offices of a pro-government Tamil party in eastern Sri Lanka, injuring at least 15 people.
Witnesses said suspected parcel bombs went off in the buildings of the Eelam People's Democratic Party in the town of Batticaloa, 300 kilometres (187 miles) east of the capital, Colombo. No group has said it carried out the explosions.
The incident comes amid widespread concern at mounting violence ahead of the 5 December parliamentary elections. Twenty-five people have been killed in election-related incidents, according to monitors.
A former parliamentarian of the Eelam People's Democratic Party has blamed the rival Tamil National Alliance for the latest violence. But some local journalists suspect the explosion might have been caused by a grenade accidently going off inside the party office.
The Eelam People's Democratic Party is a former rebel group that has now sided with the government. It signed a peace accord and gave up arms in 1987 along with about a dozen Tamil separatist groups.
1 December, 2001, BBC News
Islamic Jihad claims Israeli bomb blast
Islamic Jihad says that it carried out Thursday's suicide bomb attack in the northern Israeli town of Hadera, which left at least four people dead.
The radical Palestinian group said 34-year-old Samir Alu Suleiman, from Jenin in the West Bank, carried out the mission.
The attack took place as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left for the US for talks with American President George W Bush, scheduled to be held on Monday.
Early on Friday three members of Islamic Jihad were arrested by an Israeli army unit in the West Bank town of Hebron, according to Palestinian sources. The Palestinian Authority said it was working "in its full capacity" to stop attacks against Israeli civilians, and had ordered its security agencies bring perpetrators "to justice".
The Authority also called on Israel "to stop its assaults and to stop assassinations which only increases tension".
30 November, 2001 BBC News
Nepal rebels attack Coke plant
Maoist rebels in Nepal have bombed and badly damaged a Coca-Cola bottling plant in the capital Kathmandu.
No one was inside the factory when the two bombs were detonated and there are no casualties. It is the first major attack on the capital after a week of heavy violence in which more than 200 people have died.
A state of emergency was declared in Nepal earlier this week and the army has been called out to put down the rebellion. The army, which is better equipped to fight the rebels than the police, has been carrying out raids on Maoist strongholds in remote areas.
The attack on the Coca-Cola factory took place early on Thursday morning, when six armed rebels entered the premises and planted the bombs after Shrestha, condemned the "anti-American" attack, which he said would hurt his country.
29 November, 2001, BBC News
Bomb attack on business centre
Workers at a business centre in north Belfast have escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack.
The device exploded at the centre in Duncairn Gardens at about 0830 GMT on Tuesday. It exploded at the back of a café at the back of the centre causing minor damage to a door. No-one was injured in the attack on the centre which straddles the peace line.
The cafe owner said she serves people from both sides of the community. It is believed the target of the attack may have been builders who have been working on an adjoining site for several months.
North Belfast Sinn Fein councillor Gerard Brophy has blamed the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association on the attack.
27 November, 2001, BBC News
A car has exploded in Birmingham as bomb squad experts tried to carry out an examination.
The incident is being treated as "a serious crime" by West Midlands police, although they have so far ruled out a terrorist connection. It comes three weeks after a suspected Real IRA car bomb exploded in the city on 3 November.
Police say the explosion was caused by a propane gas cylinder and other flammable material placed in the maroon Peugeot 309 as "an improvised explosive device". The car has been taken for forensic examination and detectives are carrying out house to house inquiries in addition to studying CCTV footage
The explosion happened outside a Dorothy Perkins clothes store in High Street. One resident who declined to be named, said: "It hasn't caused any damage to any buildings, but you have to wonder why someone would do something like this. "It is a busy area at night and anything could have happened."
24 November, 2001, BBC News
Security call follows bomb find
An Ulster Unionist assembly member has called on the government not to reduce security measures following the interception of a car bomb in County Armagh.
Detectives are continuing to question a man following the seizure of the large bomb on Tuesday. The device, which contained several hundred pounds of explosives, was primed for detonation. The police have blamed dissident republicans.
The police said the bomb intercepted in a car on the outskirts of Armagh City on Tuesday morning was primed and ready for use. Officers said it was large enough to cause death and destruction on a large scale.
One man was arrested and the area was cordoned off until army bomb experts could examine the car at first light. The army carried out a controlled explosion on the bomb.
On Tuesday, Assistant chief constable Stephen White said the bomb had all the hallmarks of being linked to dissident republicans. Dissident republican groups, including the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, are opposed to the Good Friday Agreement and the political institutions. Assistant chief constable White said he suspected the bomb may have been of the size of that which killed 29 people in Omagh, County Tyrone, in 1998. Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said those responsible for the bomb had no support among the people of Northern Ireland.
21 November, 2001, BBC News
Blast raises tension in Macedonia
A bomb has exploded in the Macedonian city of Tetovo, on the eve of the excavation of what is said to be a mass grave of war crimes victims.
The explosion, outside the offices of the European Union's monitoring mission in the city, caused minor damage. It is not clear who was responsible for the attack which came as investigators from the EU and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia prepared to unearth evidence at the alleged grave site near the city.
The Macedonian authorities claim that up to 12 Macedonian civilians lie buried at the site, allegedly killed by members of the ethnic Albanian guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army, during a rebel uprising earlier this year. The issue of war crimes has become the latest stumbling block in the Macedonian peace process.
21 November, 2001, BBC News
A powerful bomb has exploded at a busy bus station in the Algerian capital, Algiers, injuring 18 people.
Three students, two women and a man, are reported to have had their legs blown off by the blast, which ripped through the Tafourha bus station at about when many people were heading to work or university. Police were deployed across the city, and rushed to the scene along with emergency teams.
The attack, on the fourth day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has raised fears of an upsurge of violence by Islamic rebels. The bomb attack was the first in Algiers in nearly three months.
A police officer at the bus station said a homemade bomb had been hidden in a satchel and suggested the attacker had probably been dressed like a student.
Algiers had been calm for two years until August this year when a bomb explosion killed two people and injured 32. During the height of the Islamic insurgency in the mid-1990s, the capital was rocked by car bombs which killed hundreds of civilians. But in the past few years, the violence has taken place mostly outside Algiers.
20 November, 2001, BBC News
Anti-terrorist police in West Yorkshire are continuing to search a disused farm as part of investigations into UK bomb attacks.
Police and bomb-squad officers resumed their search of Hill Top Farm in Tingley village, West Ardsley, near Leeds, on Friday. The search follows the arrest of six people in London and Liverpool under the Terrorism Act after an investigation involving MI5.
Residents who were evacuated from their homes as a series of controlled explosions were carried out on Thursday, were escorted by police to collect personal items.
Five men, aged between 20 and 40, were arrested on Thursday after searches in Enfield, North London, and taken to Paddington Green police station for questioning. A sixth man was arrested after searches in Liverpool and taken to a local police station to be interviewed by Anti-Terrorist Branch officers.
The men could be held for up to seven days under the Terrorism Act 2000. The operation, the biggest carried out against the Real IRA in England, is ongoing and a number of addresses across the country are in the process of being searched.
16 November, 2001, BBC News
Suicide bomb attack in Sri Lanka
Three people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack by a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel in eastern Sri Lanka.
Police said the bomber targeted members of Sri Lanka's security forces in the town of Batticaloa, killing himself and two others. The attack also seriously injured six others, police said. In another attack carried out by the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, two soldiers have been killed in the north-eastern district of Trincomalee, reports quoted local officials as saying.
The violence came as Sri Lanka is geared up for a general election next month, after the collapse of the government.
15 November, 2001, BBC News
Businesses in London are being urged to sign up to an alert system which warns of terror threats.
The scheme sends a pager message within 30 seconds, warning users of bomb alerts, explosions and public disorder. A system that sends text messages to mobile phones is also being set up by police. The pager scheme began in the City of London and the Docklands following IRA bombs during the 1990s.
Anti-terrorism police in London have decided the system should cover the whole of London following the 11 September attacks. Nationally, police forces are looking to set up similar schemes in cities which could be targeted. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry, head of the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorism branch, said the system worked well in the city. "This is a time of heightened tension and schemes like pager alert can help businesses respond quickly to security alerts and other incidents."
All businesses from major concerns such as the Stock Exchange to local pubs can join up.
Commander Frank Armstrong, from the City of London Police said: "Protecting lives is our number one priority in any major incident. "The pager alert scheme saves valuable minutes, even seconds, in communicating a security threat. "It is already part of the emergency and evacuation plansof a number of London companies. I have no doubt, one day, pager alert could save lives."
14 November, 2001, BBC News
An explosion that rocked Birmingham city centre is being blamed on Irish dissidents.
The blast happened at 2230GMT on Saturday, in a car parked close to New Street railway station, but no-one was injured despite the area being packed with revellers. Police immediately ruled out any link to the 11 September attacks - saying a warning was given, but too late to deactivate the device.
Chief Constable of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Sir Ronnie Flanagan indicated that the Real IRA was the main suspect for the bomb blast. The blast came just hours after politicians in Northern Ireland found a way to rescue the peace process, which was thrown into disarray when David Trimble failed to be re-elected as first minister.
Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid said the Birmingham attack was an attempt to prevent the province from finding a resolution.
4 November, 2001, BBC News
Congress tackles airport security
The US House of Representatives has backed a new bill to tighten airport security checks in the wake of the 11 September terror attacks.
The measures, backed by President George W Bush, will set stricter standards for private security firms, but will not make baggage screeners government employees - as the Senate had wanted. The vote came as the governor of California warned of possible bomb attacks on the state's major bridges. And in another move designed to strengthen US laws, President Bush has proposed making it a crime to buy, build or acquire biological weapons for terrorist attacks.
There has been broad criticism of lax airport security in the US, following the hijackers which enabled the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Under the planned airport security law, the government will be in charge of training screeners, air marshals will fly on commercial flights and cockpit doors will be secure. Now the House and Senate versions of the legislation will go to a committee stage for further discussion.
But some congressmen fear that vital security moves could be delayed. "My greatest fear is that if it goes to a conference, it never comes out," said House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt.
As well as proposing to make trading in biological weapons for terrorist attacks a crime, President Bush also recommended that the United Nations should devise a means to investigate suspected biological warfare attacks. The move - a proposed strengthening of the 1972 UN Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention - appears to be a reversal of policy for the White House, which was reluctant to back international treaties before 11 September.
It came as the US Food and Drug Agency announced that four of its mail rooms in Washington had tested positive for anthrax during preliminary tests. If confirmed, the finding would make the FDA the latest branch of the US Government to be affected by anthrax. The disease has also been discovered at a mail processing facility in Kansas City, Missouri - the first incidence in the Midwest. Postal facilities in New Jersey, New York and Washington have already been hit by the bacteria and traces of anthrax in several federal buildings have interrupted the work of America's executive, legislative and judicial powers.
2 November, 2001, BBC News
Man jailed for 11 September hoax
A graduate who phoned a bomb hoax to police in London only hours after the 11 September attacks has been jailed for three years.
Mossadek Jouini, 38, had watched television coverage of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center only hours before he made the call.
Jouini, a Tunisian national, from Upper Holloway, north London, admitted one charge of making a hoax telephone call, and a charge of possessing a knife. He was jailed for three years at London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Jouini had said he was a member of the Palestinian Hamas organisation, and claimed responsibility for the attacks in the US. He claimed the former NatWest Tower in the City, one of the highest buildings in London, would be the next target. Jouini warned that the attack would go ahead if Prime Minister Tony Blair's statements in the coming weeks showed support for the United States.
The call made at 1843BST was traced to a public call box in The Strand in central London and when police arrived they found Jouini with the telephone receiver still in his hand.
2 November, 2001, BBC News
