US had 172 'IED' incidents in last 6 months, government info says

 

US had 172 'IED' incidents in last 6 months, government info says

By Matthew Schofield and Erika Bolstad

McClatchy Newspapers

           

http://www.stripes.com/news/us-had-172-ied-incidents-in-last-6-months-government-info-says-1.216918#

 

Published: April 16, 2013

041713_PressureCookerBomb_MCT

Graphic explains how a pressure cooker works and how it can be configured to

work as a bomb; information on why such bombs reported to have been the type

used at the Boston Marathon) can kill and maim so effectively.

MCT

 

WASHINGTON - The two explosions that killed three people and wounded more

than 170 Monday in Boston were dramatic, the deadliest bombing in the United

States since April 19, 1995, when a truck loaded with fertilizer blew up

outside the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168. But the method

of attack wasn't particularly surprising to anti-terrorism experts: a

homemade bomb that officials refer to as an IED, or improvised explosive

device.

 

In fact, in the last six months, there have been 172 IEDs reported in the

United States, according to a government count that an official revealed

Tuesday in answer to questions about U.S. preparedness. The official shared

the figures, which were gathered before Monday's explosion, only on the

condition that neither the official nor the official's office be identified.

 

The official shared information in an email that indicated most American IED

attacks were small: "Homemade fireworks, childish pranks and other such

non-terror related activities."

 

But the information also notes that American officials have long understood

the threat, and includes a warning that has been distributed to other

agencies: "Expect IED attacks by Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVEs) and

individuals to continue throughout the United States. High profile events

will present additional targets for HVEs and other individuals."

 

The bombs in Boston were more powerful and deadlier than any seen in the

United States in years. Even so, initial reports from investigators indicate

that they were made using gunpowder or black powder as an explosive, not

higher grade and more dangerous explosives such as C-4, a military-grade

plastic explosive.

 

The explosives were packed into two pressure cookers, an increasingly

popular container for bomb makers from Pakistan to the United States. A

pressure cooker bomb allegedly was discovered in the Killeen, Texas, hotel

room of a soldier absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Ky., who later

was convicted of plotting a 2011 attack on Fort Hood, Texas.

 

Officials say that with the growth of Internet instruction videos on bomb

making, little stands between someone wanting to make a low-grade weapon and

being able to do so.

 

A YouTube video titled "Easy Gunpowder Bomb" shows the viewer everything

from extracting gunpowder from fireworks and bullets to setting a fuse. The

video is narrated by a young man who answers a comment by noting that he was

wearing shorts while filming the clip.

 

Another commenter asks: "Do you have video of it going off? How did it go?"

The answer: It left a big hole in the backyard.

 

Officials say there are much more sinister bomb-making websites. One online

video shows a young man demonstrating how to make a cellphone detonator for

a bomb. Investigators think that Monday's bombs were set off with timing

devices.

 

The use of pressure cookers as bomb shells has become so common that some

Internet sites call them "trendy." Officials have said they think that Army

Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo learned to make the pressure cooker bomb they say he

intended to use at Fort Hood from instructions found in an al-Qaida online

magazine. Abdo was sentenced last year to two consecutive sentences of life

in prison, plus 60 years.

 

Pressure cookers reportedly were used for bombs during the civil war in

Nepal in the 1990s, and they were the method for a series of railcar

bombings on July 11, 2006, in Mumbai, India, that killed more than 200

people.

 

Daniel Byman, a terrorism expert at Washington's Brookings Institution, when

asked about the attack in Boston, noted simply: "There's no surprise on the

type of attack - improvised bombs are very common."

 

Over the past few weeks alone, authorities across the country have

investigated several explosions, threats or suspicious devices involving

improvised bombs.

 

The Boston Globe reported last month that police in a town south of Boston

were investigating who had set off three homemade explosive devices. Several

more undetonated explosives were unearthed after blasts were reported March

12.

 

In mid-March, The Associated Press reported that police had found 26 guns,

thousands of bullets and dozens of high-capacity ammunition magazines at the

home of Everett Basham of Santa Clara, Calif. Authorities also reported

finding what they describe as a homemade "destructive device."

 

Basham was charged with threatening to kill Sen. Leland Yee, a state

lawmaker, over proposed gun-control legislation. A Democrat from San

Francisco, Lee has proposed a law that would limit the sale of high-capacity

magazines.

 

In rural western Pennsylvania, a man blew up himself with a device in his

truck, leveling an acquaintance's home. Prosecutors said the man had tried

to commit suicide the previous summer with a 1,600-pound fuel bomb similar

to one used to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building.

 

The day of the explosion, the man had faced charges of illegally possessing

liquid ammonia for non-industrial or agricultural use, local newspapers

reported. Some of the chemicals could be used to make explosives or

methamphetamine.

 

In Arizona last Friday, authorities say, a package addressed to

controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio would have exploded if it

had been opened, causing serious injury.

 

The government official who provided details of his agency's count of IED

attacks in the United States said there had been 31 in March, 23 in February

and 31 in January, though none as deadly or as high-profile as what occurred

in Boston. According to the official, Afghanistan suffered far more IED

attacks than any other nation but the United States had more such attacks

than Israel, Somalia or Yemen. In fact, the United States trailed only

Afghanistan, Colombia, Pakistan, India and Syria in the sheer number of IEDs

over the past six months.

 

In an introduction to a White House report on the threat of IEDs that was

released in February, President Barack Obama noted that it had been 20 years

since the 1993 World Trade Center attack, when an explosives-laden van blew

up in a parking garage, killing six people, and said a great deal of

progress had been made in countering such weapons.

 

He added, however, that "We must not become complacent, but must continue to

challenge ourselves and each other to be more effective against these

threats."

 

"IEDs remain one of the most accessible weapons available to terrorists and

criminals to damage critical infrastructure and inflict casualties," the

White House report said.

 

"To better meet the IED threat at home, we will seek to incorporate lessons

learned abroad," it added.

 

Internationally, anti-IED efforts focus on denying would-be bombers access

to chemicals and materials. Beyond that, U.S. policy relies on vigorous

security screening and citizens reporting suspicious activity.

 

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, noted in March,

however, that interest in using bombs continues. "Homegrown

violent-extremist planning in 2012 was consistent with tactics and targets

seen in previous plots and showed continued interest in improvised explosive

devices," he said.

 

---

 

IED ATTACKS IN THE U.S.

 

OCT 2012 - 38.

 

NOV 2012 - 21.

 

DEC 2012 - 28.

 

JAN 2013 - 31.

 

FEB 2013 - 23.

 

MAR 2013 - 31.

 

Source: Confidential government count

 

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