Blast at Luxury Pakistan Hotel Kills Several

If this is your first time visiting National Terror Alert you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. The National terror Alert feed features breaking news, alerts and bulletins on demand and it's free of charge..
You will only see this message on your first visit to the site. Thanks for visiting!

Homicide attackers in a truck launched an assault Tuesday on a luxury hotel commonly used by foreigners in Peshawar, firing guns as they stormed past guards and then setting off a huge blast that killed at least five people and wounded 65 more, Pakistani officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the largest city in Pakistan’s restive northwest, but it fit the pattern of recent Taliban attacks the militants said were in retaliation for a military campaign against militants in the Swat Valley region.

Local television networks showed part of the Pearl Continental Hotel had been demolished in the blast, reduced to concrete rubble and twisted steel. The scene was pandemonium, with armed police rushing around and Pakistani men standing by looking stunned. One man held a bloodied rag to his head.

Source

Bomb Said to Be On Flight Almost Taken By Former Iranian President

Former President Mohammad Khatami was expected to fly on a domestic flight on Saturday night that was found to have a homemade bomb aboard, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday.

The daily newspaper Sarmayeh said Mr. Khatami had been scheduled to fly on the Kish Air flight to Tehran from the southwestern city of Ahwaz on Saturday evening, but that he had taken another flight instead. It was unclear why he had changed his plans.

Mr. Khatami has been traveling and campaigning in support of Mir Hussein Moussavi, a moderate politician and the most serious challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of June 12 elections.

The semiofficial Fars news agency reported Sunday that a homemade bomb was found in a lavatory on the Kish Air flight, which had 131 passengers aboard. It said about 15 minutes into the flight the plane turned back to the Ahwaz airport, where authorities defused the device. The agency gave no further details.

via Bomb Said to Be on Flight Almost Taken by Former Iranian President – NYTimes.com.

Small Bomb Explodes Outside New York Starbucks

A small improvised explosive device detonated outside an Upper East Side Starbucks early Monday morning, shattering the coffee shop’s windows and raising fears of terrorism.

The bomb tore a hole in a wooden bench outside the coffee chain’s outpost at Third Ave. and E. 92nd St. when it exploded at 3:30 a.m.

No one was injured in the blast, but it terrified residents who had been fast asleep early on Memorial Day.

“I heard a giant noise — a big, giant noise, like a crash — and there was a flash,” said Jordan Kovnot, 26, a law student who lives above the Starbucks. “It made me jump up.”

“It felt like an earthquake,” said Adrianna Ebans, 28, who was among more than a dozen residents evacuated from the apartments above the Starbucks. “We were all really scared.”

Scores of detectives are crawling over the blast site, looking for surveillance video and trying to determine the nature of the low-grade explosive device, which investigators believe was either placed on or taped to the bench.

“We don’t know the motive. Obviously it’s a cause for concern,” said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “We’re going to do an in-depth investigation.”

No one had claimed credit for the blast, nor was it called in ahead of time, said Kelly.

Read Full Article

Two Arrested for Planting Device at Sacramento Federal Courthouse

Authorities arrested two people Wednesday that investigators said left an incediary device outside the Sacramento Federal Courthouse last weekend, according to an FBI spokesman.

Matthew Fraticelli, 30, and Stephanie Shinn, 35, of Sacramento were arrested early Wednesday and face charges of attempted arson of a federal facility and possession of an unregistered destructive device, Sacramento Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Steve Dupre said.

The device, hidden inside a paper grocery bag, was found by Federal Protection Service personnel during routine patrol outside a security booth on the east side of the courthouse at 5th and I streets in downtown Sacramento around 4:45 a.m. Sunday.

Dupre said the object was actually a Heineken five-liter draught keg with the word “Fraticelli” written in bold black ink on the side. Inside the keg was one gallon of a flammable liquid. Attached to the side of the keg with duct tape was a pill bottle that had what appeared to be an M-80 protruding from the lid.

Read Full Article

Bomb Materials Found In Marine’s Baggage At Logan

State police and security officials say a U.S. Marine was arrested Sunday morning at Boston’s Logan International Airport after screeners found bomb-making materials, a gun and ammunition in his checked baggage.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis says 22-year-old Cpl. Justin Reed, of Jacksonville, N.C., was booked on US Airways Flight 877 to Charlotte, N.C. Davis says Reed arrived in Boston on a flight from Las Vegas earlier Sunday morning. Davis says the TSA is trying to determine why the items were not detected during a screening in Las Vegas.

State police at Logan were notified about the items by the TSA screeners.

Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport. Bail was set at $50,000.

Source

Suicide Bomber Type Vest Found In Mt. Washington – Pittsburgh

Workers cleaning out a house in Mt. Washington called police when they found a device with what looked like pipe bombs with wires and nails attached.

“It looked exactly like somebody would wear in a suicide bomber-type of scene or suicide bomber- type of incident,” said Sheldon Williams, of the Pittsburgh police bomb squad.

The device was found outside 559 Southern Avenue late Thursday morning while workers from Pittsburgh Iron and Scrap Metal were picking up scrap metal. While loading materials into their truck, they noticed a device and called authorities.

The bomb squad arrived and, using the squad’s robot, police were able to get a closer look at the device.

“It had a vest,” he said. “The pipe bombs were in a series, meaning they were all linked together.”

“There was a wire coming out of it with a plunger on the end of it,” Williams said.

The bomb squad detonated one of the pipe bombs at the scene. The other three pipe bombs in the vest could not be opened and were taken to a private destination for further testing and detonation.

“It could totally be a hoax device,” said Williams. “But we would not make that determination upon arrival.”

Part of the investigation will include locating the previous tenants that neighbors said kept to themselves.

via ‘Source

Backpack With 7 Pipe Bombs Leads To Evacuations

Santee California - A man who found seven pipe bombs in a backpack turned them in to the Sheriff’s Department substation Monday afternoon, prompting authorities to evacuate nearby businesses as they neutralized the explosive devices.

The man entered the station on Cuyamaca Street, near Buena Vista Avenue, around 2:15 p.m. and left the backpack in the lobby, Lt. Mike Munsey said. The man said he found the bag with the bombs the night before and one of them was leaking.

The sheriff’s bomb-arson unit inspected the backpack and neutralized each bomb individually, Munsey said.

Source

Jordanian Native Charged With Threatening Jewish Schools

A 24-year-old Chicago man was charged Friday with threatening to set off explosives near Jewish schools in the metropolitan area if Israel didn’t halt military actions in Gaza.

Mohammed T. Alkaramla, a native of Jordan, was ordered held without bond after being his arrest, according to the FBI.

Alkaramla is charged with a felony count of sending an interstate threatening communication and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

Authorities allege he sent a letter to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago on Dec. 30 claiming that explosives would be set off around the school unless the violence in Gaza stopped by Jan. 15.

“It (sic) very important to make quick action before we make our decisions to set bombs,” the letter reads.

The letter was addressed to rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community and said 22 Jewish educational centers in the Chicago area would also be targeted, according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Timothy Lauster.

No explosive devices were planted, and no injuries were reported, the FBI said.

Alkaramla was identified as a suspect after fingerprints found on the letter matched prints taken during a 2003 arrest for possession of marijuana in Chicago, the FBI said.

In a Feb. 12 search of Alkaramla’s home, agents found a laptop containing most of the threatening letter, Lauster said. The day the letter was sent, the laptop had also been used to run Google searches for terms including “Bomb attack + Israel + letters” and “Jewish elementary schools in Chicago.”

Alkaramla has denied writing the letter and told authorities he’s too busy with work, school and family commitments to send threatening letters to anyone, Lauster said.

Source

Major Terror Attack Averted At Haifa’s Lev Hamifratz Mall

A major terrorist car bombing was averted at a Haifa mall on Saturday night when one of several explosive devices hidden in a parked vehicle malfunctioned.
An Israeli mall.

“We believe this is a terrorist incident,” a police statement said.

After being alerted by an employee of the Lev Hamifratz shopping center, who reported hearing an explosion at about 8:30 p.m., police sappers were dispatched to scan the area.

The sappers found a partially exploded bomb in the trunk of a white Subaru car which was parked outside the shopping center.

A further search of the vehicle uncovered several more unexploded bombs, which were neutralized by the sappers. No one was injured.

It was not immediately clear how the vehicle managed to get past the security checks at the mall entrance. The car was registered to a woman who lives in Jerusalem, but police would not release her identity.

Police immediately moved to evacuate the mall, which was filled with shoppers, and sealed off the area.

A major road adjacent to the mall was also closed to traffic, as police went on high alert across the Haifa area. Roadblocks were erected and the police presence was increased in crowded areas.

Northern Police spokesman Moshe Weitzman told The Jerusalem Post that “dozens of kilograms of explosives” were uncovered in the car.

“We have gone on alert and will remain prepared,” Weitzman said.

Source

Electromagnetic Pulse E-Bombs Could Go Mainstream

E-bombs, weapons that destroy electronics with an intense pulse of electromagnetic radiation, have been discussed for decades. But despite years of research and development, there is little sign of their deployment. The prospect of knocking out communications and other electronic systems is attractive, but commanders prefer proven weapons with known effects. Now the U.S. Army is developing technology to provide the best of both worlds, by creating munitions that combine conventional and e-bomb effects in one package.

Explosive munitions rely on blast, fragmentation and sometimes armor-piercing shaped charges for their effects. Researchers want to add an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) damage mechanism as well. This is in contrast to previous e-bomb projects that were intended to be nonlethal so they could destroy materiel without causing casualties. The Army program seeks to enhance existing warheads, adding the feature without affecting blast, fragmentation or armor penetration, and with minimal extra weight.

The power supply in traditional e-bomb design is a magnetic flux compression generator with metal coils carrying current. The coils rapidly compress in an explosion, producing an intense pulse of energy. The generator is bulky and cannot easily be integrated into existing munitions.

An alternative approach explored by the Army is a shockwave ferromagnetic generator. This is a magnet that blows up and spontaneously demagnetizes, releasing energy as a pulse of power. The effect is known as pressure-induced magnetic phase transition, and only occurs with some types of magnets in certain situations. In 2005, researchers from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (Amrdec), working with contractor Loki and scientists from Texas Tech University, demonstrated an explosive pulsed-power source based on neodymium alloy magnets, a type used in speakers and headphones.

Having proven that the principle works, the researchers moved on to more exotic lead zirconate titanate magnets. This enabled them to reduce the volume of the power generator from 50 cu. cm. (3 cu. in.) to 3 cu. cm., excluding explosives. Army requirements call for assembly of the power generator, power conditioning and aerial in a 1-in. space. Power output will be measured in hundreds of megawatts for microseconds.

The aerial needed to shape and direct the electromagnetic energy is an engineering challenge, due to the intense force of the explosion and the size required. Allen Stults of Amrdec is working on a “conducting aerosol plasma warhead.” A flame conducts electricity due to the presence of charged particles in it. By altering the chemical mixture of a fireball produced by an explosion, Stults aims to turn it into an electrically conductive aerial, a “plasma antenna.”

via E-Bombs Could Go Mainstream | AVIATION WEEK.

Explosive Device Goes Off In California Prison

An improvised explosive device went off inside a federal prison in California during a search Saturday, according to federal authorities.

No one was injured, the authorities told CNN.

The incident happened in the recreation area of the Victorville Federal Penitentiary. Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Traci Billingsley said the device was found by a staff member during a “routine search of inmate property”. She said it “detonated upon discovery.”

A bomb squad from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and FBI bomb technicians were called to the prison to examine the device and make sure it didn’t pose any further danger. They remained inside the prison as of 9:30 p.m.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said an investigation was under way. She said the incident is not terrorism-related.

Billingsley said the prison was locked down at the time the device was found. She could not say what prompted the lockdown, or if there was any connection to the search. No inmates were in the area when the explosion occurred.

“The prison remains secure,” she said.

She said she could not recall a previous incident where an improvised explosive device was found inside a prison.

via Explosive goes off in California prison – CNN.com.

9 Muslim Passengers Removed From Jet – Reagan Intl. Airport

Officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark.

Members of the party, all but one of them U.S.-born citizens who were headed to a religious retreat in Florida, were subsequently cleared for travel by FBI agents who characterized the incident as a misunderstanding, an airport official said. But the passengers said AirTran refused to rebook them, and they had to pay for seats on another carrier secured with help from the FBI.

Kashif Irfan, one of the removed passengers, said the incident began about 1 p.m. after his brother, Atif, and his brother’s wife wondered aloud about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

A source close to the investigation says Sobia was overheard talking about the safest place to sit on a plane if a bomb was on board.  An Airtran spokesman says what was allegedly heard by other passengers was enough to remove the entire Irfan family from the plane.

9 Muslim Passengers Removed From Jet – washingtonpost.com.

House Searched After Man Found Near Mall With Bomb

A robot has been combing a metro home for explosives since Tuesday morning after finding a man near Penn Square Mall with a bomb on Monday, police said.

Officers said an anonymous tip led police to Steven Andrew Jordal, 24, who has been accused of making bombs inside his northwest Oklahoma City house.

“We received a tip from an informant that he was making an explosive device and possibly had the device on (his) person,” said police spokesman Gary Knight.

That’s when police found Jordal walking near Penn Square Mall with a bomb, officers confirmed. Read more

2nd Arrest Made In Woodburn Bank Bombing That Killed Two Police Officers

UPDATE: The father of a Salem man accused of killing two Oregon law enforcement officers in a bank explosion was arrested and charged Tuesday, authorities said.

Bruce Turnidge, 57, faces charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and the manufacture and possession of an explosive device.

“There was sufficient evidence for him to be charged with all the same offenses as his son,” said Courtland Geyer, the deputy district attorney in Marion County. Read more

Next Page »