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2007-07-14 Iraq

13th MEU finds 50,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate

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Posted by Fred 2007-07-14 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top
File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1 Amonium nitrate is a readily available fertilizer, and is usually pelletized which makes a poor yeild in improvized explosives. you need to do some 'processing' to get a decent yeild, and while a powerful explosive when mixed properly it requires an initiator... not quite as easy to get a good boom as you are generally led to believe

Posted by Abu do you love 2007-07-14 01:14|| 2007-07-14 01:14|| Front Page Top

#2 Yes but Iraq is lousy with detonators and industrial explosives, so an AMNO bomb would be easy to manufacture there. Also with 50K of Ammonium Nitrate, one could make one hell of a bomb - take out everything in a couple of blocks.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2007-07-14 02:06|| 2007-07-14 02:06|| Front Page Top

#3 ANFO?

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-07-14 09:21|| 2007-07-14 09:21|| Front Page Top

#4 Iraq is awash with TNT in arty rounds, mortars, etc. buried all over.

ANFO is approximately 80% of TNT, or (0.8) TNT equivalency. if manufactured to industrial standards.

(155mm) M198, one HE round weighs 95 pounds, case and all.

lets say net 50 lbs of Trinitrotoluene [approx]

The assholes have plenty of splodydope material in Iraq.

Posted by RD 2007-07-14 10:46|| 2007-07-14 10:46|| Front Page Top

#5 Just add 7% fuel oil to the ammonium nitrate prills and you have ANFO, which is up there in explosive energy with TNT. The trick is to be able to bring the volume into a key location past security checkpoints. Do that, and have a booster charge along and you can have one hell of a destructive device.

Thank the Marines for having alert personnel there at the checkpoint to intercept the AN. One spectacular blast, with the resulting "gee whiz" journalistic coverage, and you have an ANFO powered propaganda coup for the enemy and the Dems.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2007-07-14 12:20|| 2007-07-14 12:20|| Front Page Top

#6 Anguper - Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO). Mixed in a slurry form as Alaska Paul describes it plus a detonator and you have a bomb.

It's what McVeigh used to take down the Murrough (sp?) Building in Oklahoma City.

There have been high-level ammonium-nitrate explosions before that did not have fuel oil mixed with it, but did have initiators, as follows (from Wikipedia),

Morgan, New Jersey, 1918 (Now Sayreville)

On October 4, 1918, the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion occurred leading to many artillery shells being launched into the air, some of which landed on a neighbouring warehouse where 4000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored in barrels. One of the shells caused a large explosion, but the majority of the ammonium nitrate did not detonate.

[edit] Krieweld, Germany, 1921

On July 26, 1921 in this railway town (now in Poland) workers tried to dislodge 30 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which had aggregated in two wagons. When mining explosives were used on solid mass the wagons exploded and killed nineteen people.

[edit] Oppau, Germany, 1921

Another attempt at disagregation of a fertiliser mix with industrial explosives caused the death of 450 people and the destruction of 700 houses on September 21, 1921. The fertiliser was a 50:50 mixture of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate and the factory had used this method of disagregation over 20,000 times without incident. It is thought that, on this occasion, poor mixing had led to certain parts of the mass to contain more ammonium nitrate than others. Only 450 tonnes exploded, out of 4500 tonnes of fertiliser stored in the warehouse.

See also: Oppau explosion

[edit] Nixon, New Jersey, 1924 (Now Edison Township)

A fire and several large explosions destroyed a warehouse containing ammonium nitrate on March 1, 1924. The explosivity of the product was perhaps enhanced, as it had been prepared using nitric acid which had previously been used for the production of TNT.

[edit] Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1925

On April 4, 1925, and May 3, 1925, two carloads, each containing 220 barrels of ammonium nitrate, were dispatched from Muscle Shoals, Alabama and caught fire in transportation. The barrels had been stored in a warehouse with varying humidity for 6 years, so it is believed that they were ignited by friction with their nitrate-impregnated manilla paper lining. Other shipments were reportedly more successful.

[edit] Rouen, France, 1940

During a bombing raid on June 5, 1940, a bomb exploded in a warehouse containing ammonium nitrate: the fertiliser was dispersed around the crater, but did not explode.

[edit] Miramas, France, 1940

August 5, 1940: 240 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in sacks exploded after being hit by a shell from a nearby fire in a munitions train.

[edit] Tessenderlo, Belgium, 1942

Another attempt to disagregate a pile of 150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate with industrial explosives ended tragically on April 29, 1942: several hundred people were killed.

[edit] Texas City, United States, 1947

Main article: Texas City Disaster

The cargo ship Grandcamp was being loaded on April 16, 1947 when a fire was detected in the hold: at this point, 2600 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in sacks was already aboard. The captain responded by closing the hold and pumping in pressurised steam. One hour later, the ship exploded, killing several hundred people and setting fire to another vessel, the High Flyer, which was moored 250 metres away and which contained 1050 tonnes of sulfur and 960 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. The Grandcamp explosion also created a powerful earthshock and knocked two small planes flying at 1500 feet out of the sky. The High Flyer exploded the next day, after having burned for sixteen hours. 500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on the quayside also burned, but without exploding, probably due to the fact that it was less tightly packed.

[edit] Brest, France, 1947

The cargo ship Ocean Liberty was loaded with 3300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and various inflammable products when it caught fire at 12:30 July 28, 1947. The captain ordered the hold to be sealed and pressurised steam was pumped in. As this did not stop the fire, the vessel was towed out of the harbour at 14:00, and exploded at 17:00. The explosion caused 29 deaths and serious damage to the port of Brest.

[edit] Red Sea, 1954

A fire was detected on the cargo ship Tirrenia on January 23, 1954, while it was carrying 4000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. Attempts to extinguish the fire with steam were unsuccessful, and the ship was abandoned before it exploded later in the night.

[edit] Roseburg, Oregon, 1959

A truck carrying dynamite and ammonium nitrate caught fire early in the morning of August 7, 1959. When it exploded it killed 14 people and injured 125 more. Several blocks of downtown Roseburg were destroyed. The accident is locally referred to as "The Blast."

[edit] Kansas City, Missouri, 1988

On November 29, 1988, at 4:07 AM two trailers containing approximately 50,000 lbs of ammonium nitrate exploded at a construction site located near the 87th street exit of Highway 71 in Kansas City, Missouri. The explosives were to be used in the blasting of rock while constructing Highway 71. The result of the explosions were the deaths of six firemen from the Kansas City Fire Department's Pumper Companies 30 and 41. Both companies were dispatched after 911 calls indicated that a fire had been set to a pickup truck located near the trailers. The responding companies were warned that there were explosives on-site; however, they were unaware that the trailers were essentially magazines filled with explosives. At 4:07 AM one of the "magazines" caught fire and a catastrophic explosion occurred, killing all six firemen instantlyonly sparing remains were found. A second blast occurred 40 minutes later, although all fire crews had been pulled back at this time. The blasts created two craters, each approximately 100 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The explosions also shattered windows within a 10-mile area and could be heard 40 miles away. It was later determined that the explosions were acts of arson, set by individuals embroiled in a labor dispute with the construction company contracted to build the highway.[1]

[edit] Toulouse, France, 2001

On September 21, 2001, at 10:15 AM, in the AZF (Azote de France) fertiliser factory in Toulouse, France, an explosion occurred in a warehouse where the off-specification granular AN was stored flat, separated by partitions. About 200300 tons is said to be involved in the explosion, resulting in 31 people dead and 2,442 injured, 34 of them seriously. The blast wave shattered windows up to 3 kilometres away and the resulting crater was 10 metres deep and 50 metres wide. The exact cause remains unknown. The material damage was estimated at 2.3 billion euros. [2]

[edit] Barracas, Spain, 2004

A truck carrying 25 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded half an hour after a traffic accident on March 9, 2004, killing two people and injuring three others. The explosion, which could be heard at a distance of 10 km (6 miles) caused a crater five metres deep.

[edit] Ryongchon, North Korea, 2004

A freight train carrying ammonium nitrate exploded in this important railway town near the Chinese border on April 22, 2004, killing 162 people and injuring over 3000 others. The station was destroyed, as were most buildings within 500 metres, and nearly 8000 homes were destroyed or damaged. Two craters of about ten metres in depth were seen at the site of the explosion. The authorities blamed "human error" for the explosion, although rumours persist that it was in fact an attempt to assassinate the Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, who was due to be passing through the station at the time.

Posted by FOTSGreg">FOTSGreg 2007-07-14 20:34|| www.fire-on-the-suns.com]">[www.fire-on-the-suns.com] 2007-07-14 20:34|| Front Page Top

#7 Don't forget:

Madison Wisconsin, August 24, 1970, near 3:40 AM

A van filled with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixture was detonated next to Sterling Hall. The truck bomb was so powerful, it damaged 26 other buildings. Pieces of the stolen van that contained the ammonium nitrate bomb were found atop an eight-story building three blocks from the blast site. Nearby churches lost their windows. Residents 30 miles away were awakened by the sound.

Despite the late hour, a post-doc was in the lab; that man, physics researcher Robert Fassnacht, was killed in the explosion. The physics department was hit worse than the intended target, the Army Math Research Center. Of those who were responsible, Karleton Armstrong, Dwight Armstrong, David Fine, and Leo Burt; Leo Burt has never been found.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-07-14 20:52|| 2007-07-14 20:52|| Front Page Top

#8 #5: "you have an ANFO powered propaganda coup for the enemy and the Dems"

No need to repeat yourself, AP. ;-p

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2007-07-14 23:21|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2007-07-14 23:21|| Front Page Top

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