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Now watch out for Al Qaeda `nitrocellulose` bombs
Washington, Oct 14: Airports all over the world have been asked by the US homeland security to be on the lookout for suspicious stuffed items among luggage after US intelligence concluded that Al Qaeda operatives are being trained to conceal `nitrocellulose` bombs inside them.
Washington, Oct 14: Airports all over the world
have been asked by the US homeland security to be on the
lookout for suspicious stuffed items among luggage after US
intelligence concluded that Al Qaeda operatives are being
trained to conceal 'nitrocellulose' bombs inside them.
Intelligence officials have confiscated Al Qaeda
manuals and picked up several indications that the terror
network is attempting to create a chemical called
nitrocellulose to fashion explosive devices that could be
smuggled aboard jetliners, media reports said.
"We judge this type of threat to be real and continuing. We have received reports from several credible, independent sources that Al Qaeda is training to build such bombs", the homeland officials were quoted by 'Washington Post' as saying.
Among other things, confiscated Al Qaeda training manuals show the sophistication of its preparations, they said.
Explosives experts said that the detonating power of a nitrocellulose bomb depends on numerous factors, but most particularly on how tightly cotton-like material is packed.
Producing such explosives, said Gregory G Baur, a former director of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators, "requires somebody who has some sophistication and who knows what he is doing."
Items such as buttons, zippers or wristwatches could be used in tandem with tightly packed nitrocellulose as power sources or ignition components to set off a detonation, the directive said.
Bureau Report
"We judge this type of threat to be real and continuing. We have received reports from several credible, independent sources that Al Qaeda is training to build such bombs", the homeland officials were quoted by 'Washington Post' as saying.
Among other things, confiscated Al Qaeda training manuals show the sophistication of its preparations, they said.
Explosives experts said that the detonating power of a nitrocellulose bomb depends on numerous factors, but most particularly on how tightly cotton-like material is packed.
Producing such explosives, said Gregory G Baur, a former director of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators, "requires somebody who has some sophistication and who knows what he is doing."
Items such as buttons, zippers or wristwatches could be used in tandem with tightly packed nitrocellulose as power sources or ignition components to set off a detonation, the directive said.
Bureau Report