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| HIGH-TECH BOMBS WERE DETONATED BY CELL PHONES |
| 2004-03-14 |
| The bombs used in this week’s Madrid massacres were sophisticated devices that contained copper detonators and were set off by cell phones, U.S. and Spanish investigators said yesterday. The 11 bombs used in the attacks - one did not explode - were carefully placed in commonly available backpacks aboard four trains and had alarms in each set to go off precisely at 7:39 a.m., investigators added. "This was a really professional job carried out by people who clearly knew what they were doing," said a U.S. counterterrorism official who has been briefed on the details of the Spanish investigation. According to Spanish media reports, the backpacks were each stuffed with 22 pounds of a derivative of dynamite used in some land mines and artillery shells. U.S. officials said Spanish police were able to piece these important clues together from the 11th backpack in the wreckage of one of the trains in which the bomb apparently malfunctioned. That backpack contained explosive material and a copper cable connected to the explosives, as well as a loose unattached cell phone. Some counterterrorism officials told The Post devices and tactics used in the Madrid massacre, in some ways, has the hallmarks of the more sophisticated roadside bombs used against U.S. troops in Iraq - many of which were activated by cell phones. U.S. officials said that could suggest either al Qaeda or the vicious al Qaeda-connected network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi. Over the next few days, Spanish investigators and FBI agents will be studying this device as well as other forensics to look for what investigators call a chemical "signature" to try to determine who was responsible. Of particular importance is whether the explosive material found in the 11th backpack matches a batch stolen from France in 1999 that has been used by the Basque separatist group ETA in several bombings. |
| Posted by:The Boston Geostrategic Group |
| #4 Excuse me while I go off on one of my pet peeves. These are not high tech bombs. Twenty years ago they would have been. Twenty years ago, you would have needed someone with at least a BSEE to design a clock circuit and an interface to program it. Then you would have had to find someone who knew how to design circuit boards (by hand, since only big guys like IBM had board design CAD tools at that point). Then you'd have to make the board. Radio Shack had kits to do that stuff back in the day, but overall it'd take months for you to build 13 bombs. A lot of people would have to get involved and there'd be a lot of opportunities for leaks. Today you could build 13 bombs in a couple of days. Any semi-literate jihadi with a basic knowledge of soldering and a drawing could build and test them. There are dozens of ready made products to act as the timer that can be bought for just a few dollars each. One terror cell could do the whole operation from start to finish with only financing and explosives coming from the outside. And that's the whole problem. Tech has become so accessible and reliable that a three-person cell can kill hundreds. Four, four-man cells can kill three thousand. Thousands of really smart people worked for years to make cell phones as sophisticated as they now are. One retard following a recipe can make it into a dangerous weapon. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-3-14 4:03:50 PM |
| #3 This would match with claims ETA terrorists went to Iraq to aid and abet the Saddamite dead-enders, picked up a terror technique or two, and returned to Spain committed to perpetrating mass murder. Well, I don't know if you could call it a FACT, Garrison :P. But it certainly is an indicator that there's cooperation going on at some level. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-3-14 12:33:12 PM |
| #2 ahaahah great so it is Saddam's fault once again. Aahahaa |
| Posted by: john 2004-3-14 4:21:03 AM |
| #1 This would match with claims ETA terrorists went to Iraq to aid and abet the Saddamite dead-enders, picked up a terror technique or two, and returned to Spain committed to perpetrating mass murder. |
| Posted by: Garrison 2004-3-14 4:03:12 AM |