IP: Didn't see this in the US WSJ -- shoe bomb made by expert

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> >  Reid's Shoe Bomb Was Likely
> >   Made by an Explosives Expert
> >   ---
> >   Other Terrorists Have Used a Similar Device
> >   By Christopher Cooper
> >
> >   01/10/2002
> >   The Asian Wall Street Journal
> >   Page 1
> >   (Copyright (c) 2002, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
> >
> >   LONDON -- The bomb that terrorist suspect Richard Reid hid in his 
> > shoe, in what the FBI calls a foiled
> >   attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound American Airlines flight last month, 
> > suggests a knowledge of
> >   explosives that probably goes far beyond his abilities, European 
> > experts say. They say the device is
> >   reminiscent of one commonly used by Palestinian suicide bombers, but 
> > more sophisticated.
> >
> >   Arriving on Dec. 22 unkempt and unshaven, without luggage and with a 
> > ticket he bought with cash for
> >   his Paris-to-Miami flight, Mr. Reid would have made a very 
> > unsophisticated terrorist, relatives and
> >   acquaintances say -- certainly far less polished than the 19 hijackers 
> > who commandeered four U.S.
> >   jets on Sept. 11 for their suicide missions.
> >
> >   But there was nothing unsophisticated about Mr. Reid's intended 
> > weapon: a wedge of plastic
> >   explosive dyed black and concealed in the sole of his high-top suede 
> > sport shoe. An official of the
> >   Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed that a highly unstable 
> > component known as triacetone
> >   triperoxide, or TATP, served as the trigger. Threaded through the 
> > plastic explosive and topped with a
> >   long, black-powder fuse running up through his shoelace, the TATP 
> > igniter would have allowed the
> >   British-born Mr. Reid to set off his charge without wires and 
> > batteries -- parts likely to be discovered
> >   by airport X-ray machines.
> >
> >   Mr. Reid was subdued by fellow passengers after a flight attendant saw 
> > him using matches in an
> >   apparent attempt to ignite his shoe during the flight, by her account. 
> > The flight was diverted to Boston,
> >   where Mr. Reid was arrested and where he remains in custody.
> >
> >   TATP increases the likelihood of premature detonation, so Mr. Reid's 
> > bomb wasn't the surest bet, yet
> >   Roger Davies, former head of Britain's IRA Bomb Squad, considers its 
> > design elegant and says that
> >   whoever fashioned the weapon knew what he was doing. "It's clever and 
> > very simple," Mr. Davies
> >   says. "The best bombs, the most significant devices, are very simple 
> > in nature."
> >
> >   Used alone, Mr. Davies says, TATP is favored only by the foolhardy. 
> > The concoction, which he
> >   describes as the "explosive of last resort," is easily mixed -- it is 
> > known as a bathtub explosive -- but
> >   less powerful than plastic explosives and far more volatile. Commonly 
> > employed by Palestinian
> >   extremist groups such as Hamas, TATP can be set off by random sparks 
> > and sudden movements. "It's
> >   very sensitive," Mr. Davies says, "and it's the main reason these 
> > Palestinian groups have lost so many
> >   bomb makers over the years."
> >
> >   Far stabler is the plastic explosive known as PETN, which the FBI said 
> > also was present in Mr. Reid's
> >   shoe, serving as the primary charge. Mr. Davies says that "you can 
> > burn [PETN] on the stove and it
> >   won't go off." The drawback for a would-be bomber is that in its pure 
> > form, PETN requires an electrical
> >   charge to set it off.
> >
> >   Combining PETN and TATP in a single bomb is unusual, Mr. Davies says. 
> > A French investigator
> >   agrees, saying an explosive mix of the sort with which Mr. Reid 
> > boarded is "not classic at all." But the
> >   mixture makes sense, Mr. Davies concludes, if the bomb maker is trying 
> > to avoid setting off metal
> >   detectors.
> >
> >   Unlike TATP, PETN is difficult, though not impossible, to come by in 
> > Europe, with the Balkans being the
> >   most likely source. "He was taught this somewhere," the French 
> > investigator says. "He didn't come up
> >   with it on his own."
> >
> >   The role of TATP in the thwarted attack harks back to other bomb 
> > incidents, most notably one aboard
> >   a Philippine Airlines flight to Japan in December 1994. In that 
> > incident, the explosion didn't pierce the
> >   plane's fuselage, as the FBI says Mr. Reid apparently intended to do, 
> > but killed one passenger and
> >   injured six more as it ripped a hole in the floor. Also in 1994, a 
> > pair of TATP-based car bombs were
> >   detonated in London, outside the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish 
> > philanthropic institution. Two
> >   Palestinian students later were convicted of conspiracy in the case.
> >
> >   Both Mr. Davies and the French investigator say the TATP in Mr. Reid's 
> > shoe suggests a connection
> >   to Palestinian extremists, noting that Mr. Reid visited Israel in 
> > July. They add that their assessment
> >   doesn't rule out Mr. Reid's connection to al Qaeda, the terror network 
> > headed by Osama bin Laden,
> >   since some Palestinian extremists are closely allied with the 
> > organization.
> >
> >   ---
> >
> >   Gary Fields in Washington and John Carreyrou in Paris contributed to 
> > this article.
> >
> >
> >
> >  Copyright © 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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