« Previous | Main | Next »

Firebombs Used in India Rail Attack Have U.S. Officials Worried

February 23, 2007 1:48 PM

India_bomb_nr The kerosene bombs that killed nearly 70 aboard a highly symbolic India-Pakistan train Feb. 18 have sparked new worries among U.S. law enforcement authorities, who noted the success of the cheap, lethal, easy-to-make-and-deploy terror device, ABC News has learned. 

Two suitcases packed with plastic kerosene bottles, planted by exits and triggered by a low-explosive, timed black powder fuse sent tongues of intense flame licking through one rail car aboard the Friendship Express in that militant attack.

Only the fact that two others placed in another car failed to ignite prevented further casualties aboard the train put into service between India and Pakistan in 2004. 

U.S. authorities and private intelligence firms have expressed concern that the devices could supplant more complex improvised high explosive devices as a terrorist bomb of choice and that  they could be used on U.S. subway and commuter rail lines, according to law enforcement sources and written reports.

The successful use of a tactic by terrorists and militants in one sphere of operations has frequently led to the use of similar tactics in other areas of conflict.  Most recently, in Iraq, this has been seen in the use of armor-piercing charges that use molten projectiles to maximize damage. Similar charges were used in both Lebanon and Afghanistan, among other conflict zones.

The private intelligence forecasting firm, Strategic Intelligence Forecasting, noted on Feb. 19 that the attack "portends similar attacks against India's highly vulnerable mass transit system by militants. Moreover, the use of TIDs (Timed Incendiary Devices) easily could spread elsewhere."

"High concept, low technology, that's the most scary," said one northeast U.S. emergency management official. In New York last year, authorities devoted one mass transit rescue drill to a scenario that involved removing numerous victims from a regional commuter line that had been wrought by explosions and the spread of chemical gases.

Sources tell ABC News that following the India-Pakistan attack, U.S. authorities in at least some other urban areas recommended that emergency response teams incorporate knowledge of the devices into future training regimes.

Strategic Intelligence Forecasting noted that the India-Pakistan attack "sets a potentially dangerous precedent, especially since TIDs can be more easily constructed, and with more readily available materials, than more complex high-explosive IEDs. This type of attack likely will be copied elsewhere in India, and beyond."

"Explosive-actuated TIDs, more commonly called firebombs, work by using a relatively small low-intensity explosive charge to ignite a more volatile flammable material. This results in an intense, rapidly spreading fire that quickly can engulf a confined space such as a rail car, subway car or airplane," the brief stated.

Similar attacks were unsuccessfully attempted on trains in Germany in August 2006. The devices used in those plots failed to ignite.

February 23, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Nohting like the liberal media giving the idots more ammo...

Posted by: BBChiGuy | Feb 24, 2007 12:58:16 AM

I agree. I bet every terrorist is checking U.S. sources, like these kind of news. This is the kind of information that is no use for good citizens(what should we do, tackle any stranger with suitcases? avoid subways?), but very useful and motivational for terrorists.

Why don't you transfer more useful information, like why it is wrong to kill unsuspecting civilians, or why it is wrong to deceive people, or how disgusting and insane these people with presonality disorder are and how in the world they managed to curve their conciousness and passion to justify these kinds of acts.

Posted by: anonymous | Feb 24, 2007 7:05:51 AM

You're right, if we didn't have articles like this we would all be safe as they can't think of anything by themselves.

Posted by: cb | Feb 24, 2007 7:12:50 AM

these methods of preparing explosives are available to whoever has the ability to look for them. Just be glad that they are using these methods instead of others that are much more dangerous.

Posted by: nicholas | Feb 24, 2007 1:30:14 PM

So the US authorities are amazed to discover the Molotov Cocktail?

They've only been around since WWI, for goodness sakes.

And these are the people we've entrusted to protect us?

Posted by: swillabrew | Feb 24, 2007 2:15:51 PM

Friends. That's the answer. There is no defense to acts hatred. That's all the this media-hyped 'terrorism' is--a bald hatred pumped by politics.

The people who want to strip citizens of their growing freedom, and to corner them with a control matrix, use the t-word as a divine impetus.

We've had centuries of good-will whereof people are too shamed to act out vengeance in light of a larger social happiness, protected by the honors of truth and respect, and we'll them again with the return a base truth.

Posted by: Bryant Martin | Feb 24, 2007 2:25:18 PM

Hmm anyone remember napalm? That was a dirty bomb as well

Posted by: Susan | Feb 24, 2007 7:30:21 PM

A common thread on these posts are people (who must come here willingly and read it), then bash the "liberal media" for giving away too much information to help the terrorists.

Hmm - I thought the liberals were the ones who blame America first?

Posted by: dave | Feb 25, 2007 9:42:53 PM

Did anyone watch the 20/20 special??
"I think there is a fear industrial complex," said Barry Glassner, author of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things," and more recently, "The Gospel of Food: Everything You Think You Know About Food Is Wrong." He said the fear industrial complex is composed of politicians, activist groups and corporations that all sell us on the idea that they can provide safety from the very dangers they are scaring us about."
This couldn't be more dead on. Terrorism for example, I dont downplay the fact the terrorists are evil and are always plotting against the US, but for crying out loud, their isn't a car bomb going off everyday in an American city. I truly believe this Barry Glasner guy is right on.

Posted by: Harry | Feb 26, 2007 2:37:35 PM

That other bombing of a train in India a few months ago shook things up there a bit, I'm told. The U.S.'s War on Terror is even more popular there than it is here. India is actually the world's largest democracy, so I would advise all the jihadists to not make a otherwise neutral country into a formidable enemy. I got the link to ABC from Drudge Report. Both cover in their own way, but I find Drudge to have more facts and less spin on a given day.

Posted by: ben | Feb 28, 2007 8:49:37 PM

I think the public DOES need to know this. We need to know how to recognize hazards. What if somebody had smelled kerosene, or caught sight of something suspicious that looked like what was in the photo, and reported it in time to do something? The train most likely would not have burned!

Also, people who handle security for railroads and other transit facilities can take steps such as providing sniffer dogs or other means of detection that are designed to detect incendiary devices.

We have to know what the hazards are in order to set up methods to detect them, and one method is always public vigilance.

Posted by: 1389 | Mar 6, 2007 3:48:05 PM

Post a comment