High Senior Arrested; School Bomb Threat Alleged

Sign On Diego reports that a senior at Ramona High School who told friends and others that he was going to blow up the school with homemade bombs made of C-4 explosive and hand grenades was arrested early Sunday.

Korey Flad, 19, faces charges that include threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, threatening a school and making criminal threats, the department said.

Ramona sheriff’s Detective Mike McNeill said no explosives or grenades were found at Flad’s home.

It was all talk, McNeill said. As far as investigators can tell, he did not have any access to C-4 or grenades. “He was remorseful, cooperative, forthcoming, honest and compliant,” McNeill said.

Flad does not have any history of trouble with authorities, McNeill said, adding that he comes from “a regular middle-class home. There were no family problems.”

via Ramona High senior arrested; school threat alleged – SignOnSanDiego.com.

Possible Explosives Discovered Near OKC Railroad Tracks

UPDATE: NewsOK reports that a man has been arrested in connection with this case and the devices have been confirmed to be hoax devices. Read More

Original Post

NewsOK reports that the Oklahoma City bomb squad, representatives of the BNSF Railway, the FBI and the local unit of the Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating possible explosive devices discovered near railroad tracks in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma City bomb squad Sunday night disposed of at least three possible bombs along railroad tracks at SE 34 Street and Shields Boulevard.
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Authorities were at the scene from about 5 p.m. until after midnight. A resident said he saw a man speeding along the 200 block of SE 34 and throwing out several devices, police Lt. Jeff Cooper said.

The resident investigated and called police after finding what looked like bombs near the railroad tracks, Cooper said.

The bomb squad had neutralized three of the devices by 10:30 p.m

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In what is most likely an unrelated incident, there was another report of explosives being discovered in Tecumseh, Oklahoma last week. (approx. 45 miles away)

Explosives were found Wednesday afternoon by Oklahoma road crews working in Tecumseh, police said.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation workers were trimming trees near Highway 177 and Gordon Cooper Drive when a suspicious package was found.

Police examined the package and called the Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb squad.

Bomb experts detonated it and determined that it did contain explosives.

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Huge Blast In Peshawar Pakistan, Several Killed

At least 30 people have been killed in a suspected bomb blast near a market in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, witnesses and officials say. The bomb is reported to have been on board a minibus.

Several people have also been injured, reports said.

Officials said that a vehicle laden with explosives had been detonated and destroyed near Peshawar’s Khyber Bazaar.

Friday’s explosion was the latest in a series of recent bombings across north-western Pakistan.

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Man Injured Handling Explosive Device, Possibly TATP

UPDATE:Benjiman Kuzelka is reportedly in serious condition and will be arrested when he recuperates. His brother, Grey Timothy Kuzelka, 21, was arrested and booked into the county jail. He had been free on bail since Sunday, following an arrest on suspicion of drug possession, sales and transport.
Their mother, Rebecca Kuzelka, 55, was also arrested.

More Details & Suspects Photos

Fox news is reporting that a Southern California man is being investigated after severely injuring his hand while handling an explosive device, possibly while attempting to make TATP.

TATP may have been at the center of an alleged New York City bomb plot targeting subways and trains and also is That is the same type of explosive used in a London subway bombing.

via Source.

From The LA Times

Federal and Riverside County authorities are investigating an explosion overnight at a Lake Elsinore home in which highly powerful explosives were used, according to a law enforcement source.

The blast occurred late Wednesday night at a home in the 30500 block of Audelo that was sometimes used for a day-care operation. A man in the home was seriously injuried, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Riverside County sheriff’s detectives, FBI investigators and bomb technicians and agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are taking part in the investigation.

The source said investigators were trying to determine if the explosive found at the home was similar to acetone peroxide, or TATP, the powerful explosive used in the 2007 London subway terrorist bombings. But there is no evidence at this time that the Lake Elsinore case in related to terrorism.

[Updated at Noon: Authorities detonated some of the explosives found in the house this morning. That blast was heard around the neighborhood.

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Suspicious Packages Discovered in Minnesota Town

Police in Princeton, Minnesota are investigating three suspicious packages found around town early Wednesday. An official told FOX News that the devices were located near a school, a post office and a public utility center.

Princeton, Minn. is located about 50 miles north of Minneapolis.

Later in the evening The Union Eagle said sources had confirmed that in addition to the three mysterious packages, five additional items described as “McGuyver bombs” were discovered around the city. The objects were judged to not be dangerous.They were collected and delivered to law enforcement for further examination.

The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and several local law enforcement agencies are assisting in the investigation.

Readily Available Chemicals Could Pose Terror Risk

Chemicals readily available at beauty-supply stores, pool supply shops, DIY home stores and other venues can be combined to produce explosives strong enough to knock down the structural support of a building, according to experts. My guess is that we will see increased (and needed) regulation of some of the more dangerous products. Although it’s difficult and extremely dangerous to manufacture explosive devices from these compounds, it poses significant risk.

Some may disagree, but if we’re going to regulate cold and allergy medications due to the dangers, how much more so should we regulate the chemicals used to produce TATP. TATP is a powerful explosive and used often by terrorists around the world. A very, very small amount (less than 1/60th of an ounce ), can cause significant damage. I would prefer to have oversight on the sale of these chemicals now, rather than at a time when we look back and ask why we didn’t do this.

Neal Langerman, chief executive officer of Advanced Chemical Safety, a consulting company in San Diego told the Wall Street Journal, “It takes specialized equipment, it takes bench chemistry skill well beyond high school to make this stuff without blowing your head off.”

Najibullah Zazi, the alleged terror suspect arrested last week in Denver is suspected to have made purchases with at least three unnamed associates in Colorado and had a recipe for triacetone triperoxide, an explosive known as TATP and made from hydrogen peroxide, acetone and a strong acid, such as hydrochloric acid.

Depending on the placement of a bomb, the ingredients and volumes allegedly purchased by Mr. Zazi could have made enough TATP “to blow out and bring down the structural support of a building,” said M. Bonner Denton, a chemistry professor at the University of Arizona.

[...]

Still, experts said it would be very difficult to make TATP, especially from the kind of weaker chemicals sold at beauty supply stores. The process requires cooking the chemicals to increase concentration levels. Prosecutors said this week FBI technicians found acetone residues in the vent above the stove-top in an Aurora hotel suite rented by Mr. Zazi.

via Read WSJ Article.

Jakarta – Bomb Blasts Hit Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Hotels

A pair of powerful bombs exploded at two luxury hotels in an upscale Jakarta business district Friday, killing 9 and wounding at least 50, officials said.

The blasts at the neighboring Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street.

An Indonesian security minister said nine people were killed. South Jakarta police Col. Firman Bundi earlier said that four of the dead were foreigners.

At the Metropolitan Medical Center, a list was posted with the names of people wounded. An official at the registration office said 11 were foreigners. She declined to give her name because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging by the hotels, said he first heard a loud explosion at the Marriott. Five minutes later, a bomb followed at the Ritz.

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Homeland Security Gives NYPD Radiation Detectors

The US Department of Homeland Security has given three state-of-the-art radiation detectors to the New York Police Department to patrol city streets in search of dirty bombs and other nuclear threats.

The 450,000-dollar worth Advanced Spectroscopic Portal Monitors will be placed in three SUVs on Wednesday at entrances to tunnels, bridges and tollbooths, the Daily News reports.

The detectors had been purchased by DHS’ National Nuclear Detection Office for use at the nation’s ports, but officials concluded they weren’t strong enough to penetrate ship containers, police sources said.

Officials believe they will be able to detect radioactive isotopes emanating from a dirty bomb in the back of a car.

“We think they’ll be useful getting hits on vehicles on the road,” a NYPD official said.

Recently, the department had also purchased 8,000 Dosimeters, pager-sized detectors to be given to police if there is a nuclear attack.

Outfitted in protective gear, officers would use the Dosimeters to find “hot spots” of radiation.

Additionally, sources said the NYPD will station a sophisticated radiation-detecting device at this weekend’s July 4 celebration at the retired battleship Intrepid.

The Thermo is used up to a dozen times a year and is stationed at the main entrance to a sensitive target.

Source

Philippines Church Bomb Blast Kills Five

Islamist militants have been blamed for a bomb blast in the Philippines today which killed at least five people and wounded dozens more.

The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato city, 545 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila, as church-goers celebrated Mass.

A woman selling roast pork was killed on the spot while four others, including a soldier and three-year-old boy, died in a nearby hospital. Among the wounded were five soldiers who were passing the cathedral in an army van when the device, fashioned from a mortar round, exploded said army spokesman Colonel Jonathan Ponce.

“This is the handiwork of the rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),” Colonel Ponce told reporters, referring to the Muslim organisation which has waged a decades long battle for self rule in the southern island of Mindanao.

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Blast at Luxury Pakistan Hotel Kills Several

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.

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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.

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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

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