NYT: Police Ask Public to Help Trace Bomber; Homemade Explosive Now Hinted

[DeepModem Mom]

Police Ask Public to Help Trace a Bomber; Homemade Explosive Is Now Hinted
By ALAN COWELL and DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: July 15, 2005


LONDON, July 14 - The British police on Thursday made public images of an 18-year-old suspected suicide bomber, Hasib Mir Hussain, and asked the public for help in tracing his movements in the hours before he boarded a double-decker bus in central London.

The police were also searching for an Egyptian man named Magdy el-Nashar, who studied biochemistry at Leeds University and attended a graduate program in chemical engineering in North Carolina, according to counterterrorism officials. It is not clear whether Mr. Nashar is being sought as a witness or a suspect, but he is believed to have known some of the bombers.

Also on Thursday, a new theory emerged about the nature of the explosives in the bombings. A senior American official and two senior European officials helping in the inquiry said investigators had discovered evidence of a low-grade, homemade explosive material in the case.

One of those officials said the discovery had been made in the bathtub of a home that was raided, suggesting the material was made there. Earlier this week, investigators said they believed that the bombs were made of a high-grade, military-style explosive.

The officials, speaking in return for anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said the material found in the home was TATP, a highly volatile explosive. While TATP is made of easily obtained chemicals, it takes a certain expertise to turn them into an explosive mix....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/international/europe/15bombings.html

[Maple]

1. As said a few days ago on a blog entry

"This is simply not accurate. Perhaps the reporter meant to say it was a commercial explosive. But, high explosives can be made in the privacy of one's home. A favorite explosive of Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists is TATP, which stands for Triacetone Triperoxide. This is a high explosive. It can be manufactured at home using acetone, hydrogen peroxide, and sulfuric acid. The product is a white crystalline precipitate that can explode violently on heating, impact, or friction. According to the Encyclopedia of Exploisves and Related Items, Picatinny Arsenal, it is one of the most senstive explosives known. It has a detonation velocity of approximately 5290 meters per second when detonated in a clumn 6.3 millimeters in diameter (TNT has a detonantion velocity of 6940 meters per second by comparison).

TATP was found in the bombing of Philippines Airlines flight #434 in December 1994, which was carried out by Ramzi Yousef. Richard Reid had TATP in his shoes when he tried and failed to ignite a paper fuze attached to them. TATP is a high explosive. Friends who are explosive ordnance disposal guys get real nervous around TATP because it is so volatile. Folks who try to make this stuff at home are likely to have a short life. Nonetheless, it can be made without having to import rare chemicals."

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/07/the_london_bomb.html

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for this info, Maple. nt