Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight

guardian ^ | 2/8/04

[knak]

Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners

Jason Burke, chief reporter
Sunday February 8, 2004
The Observer

Islamic militants have conducteddry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe. The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say.

Concerns that militants might assemble a bomb or another weapon on board were a key factor in the series of recent cancellations of transatlantic flights. Last weekend British Airways stopped flights from London to Washington and Miami for fear of an attack and Air France also cancelled scheduled flights.

Security agencies are now hunting scores of militants who have been trained in the new tactics. The warning, passed to Western agencies by Middle Eastern intelligence services, is based on interrogations of Islamic militants captured in the Arabian Gulf and is corroborated by intercepted communications between terrorist cells and interviews with prisoners held by the US government at Guantanamo Bay.

Officials in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere are believed to have warned that at least 12dry runs may have been completed and to have said that the terrorists are aiming to try out their plans on flights around the Mediterranean and the Middle East before attempting to bomb a transatlantic route, where security precautions are now very tight. Militants know that individual components are far easier to smuggle through airport security than an assembled bomb.

In May 2002 nearly 100 grammes of pentrite, a plastic explosive used by the alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid, was found hidden in the armrest of a Moroccan jet when it landed in Metz, France. At the time, investigators said they thought it had been put there as a warning. Now French officials suspect the explosives were placed on the jet as a trial of the new tactics. Though some investigators fear they may be the victim of deliberate 'disinformation', officials say that they cannot riskignoring the warnings.

Ali Abd Rahman al-Ghamdi, alleged to be one of the masterminds of a suicide attack that killed 35 in Riyadh last May, is thought to have revealed the new tactics after giving himself up to Saudi authorities weeks after the blast. Shortly after the cap ture of al-Ghamdi, who is believed to be close to senior al-Qaeda figures, the US government's Transportation Security Administration issued an urgent memo detailing new threats to aviation and warning that terrorists in teams of five might be planning suicide missions to hijack commercial airliners, possibly using common items carried by travellers, such as cameras, modified as weapons. The CIA said that a high level of threat was based on information from several incarcerated high-ranking militants.

An FBI bulletin last November was more specific. It warned that 'terrorists are considering the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) assembled on board to hijack an aircraft or, alternatively, destroy it over heavily populated areas in the event of passenger or crew resistance.

'Components of IEDs can be smuggled on to an aircraft, concealed in either clothing or personal carry-on items such as shampoo and medicine bottles, and assembled on board.

'In many cases of suspicious passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's forward lavatory.'

Analysts say that although the threat of a 'spectacular' attack on the West still exists, most strikes by Islamic militants will be onsoft targets in areas where security is lax. Last weekend suicide bombers killed 109 people and wounded hundreds more in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A radical Islamic group has published claims of responsibility for a string of attacks in Iraq on a website run from the UK.

The Islamic Observation Centre, run from London by the Egyptian dissident Yasser al-Sirri, posted a statement, from 'the Ansar al-Sunnah Army' on its site last week, saying that the group was behind the Mosul attack.

The Ansar al-Sunnah Army is linked to the Ansar ul-Islam organisation which is believed to have launched a series of bomb attacks in Iraq in recent months, killing scores of Iraqis, aid workers and coalition personnel. Yesterday senior American officers said they were tracking the group.

'We are certainly going to follow up on the claims of responsibility,' said Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the US command in Iraq's deputy chief of operations. Many of the strikes have targeted local Iraqis who have co-operated with the US-led coalition authorities.

Two versions of the claim have been posted by the IOC. One threatens further attacks on 'collaborators'.

'While claiming responsibility for this heroic operation, we tell every agent who has put himself at the service of the occupier that the fate waiting for you will be much worse if you do not repent,' the statement said. The group say that the claims of hundreds of civilian casualties in the strikes are 'lies'.

A second statement, signed by the 'emir' of the group, Abu Abdullah al-Hassan bin Mahmud, calls the attacks a 'heroic deed against ... the people of Kurdistan who opened their arms for the Americans and their army'.

[WestCoastGal]

"Officials in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere are believed to have warned that at least 12dry runs may have been completed and to have said that the terrorists are aiming to try out their plans on flights around the Mediterranean and the Middle East before attempting to bomb a transatlantic route, where security precautions are now very tight. Militants know that individual components are far easier to smuggle through airport security than an assembled bomb."

I wonder if that Egypt charter jet crash might have been a dry run that went bad or good depending on what the bomber had planned.

[FairOpinion]

"Officials in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere are believed to have warned that at least 12dry runs may have been completed "


===

This is scary. Now it make more sense, why flight cancelations actually prevented attacks.

[Lazamataz]

The Islamic Observation Centre, run from London by the Egyptian dissident Yasser al-Sirri

Egypt keeps cropping up.

If we don't bloody Egypt's nose soon, I will be awfully annoyed.

[FairOpinion]

"I wonder if that Egypt charter jet crash might have been a dry run "

===

Excellent point. It could well have been.

[WoofDog123]

If a plane is taken down by this tactic, I would expect carry-on luggage will be pretty much banned. Regardless, this is the sort of tactic that, if extrapolated, is very difficult to defeat by the engagement rules the west is towards muslim passengers in general.

[Ronin]

They should do that now.

Let's face it, why does anyone really need to carry on luggage? Books, newspapers, writing materials, sure...

But I can't think of anything else a person actually needs while he is in an airplane. And if he does, tough. Stay home.

[Oorang]

Good question. Sure haven't heard much about what info was found on the black box. The first one was supposed to be damaged beyond gleaning anything from it but the second box was supposed to be in good condition.

In the last six weeks or so weren't there a small handful of flights where "odd" things were found in the airplane? Memory is fuzzy here.

[Cicero]

Egypt was the intellectual melting pot where Islamic terrorism interbred with Communist terrorism and Nazism to produce many of the problems we see today.

It completely mystifies me why we are continuing to pay $2 billion to subsidize Egypt, while the Egyptian government teachings little kids to hate Jews and Americans and the Egyptian military participates in the persecution and killing of Coptic Christians.

[JennysCool]

I recall that as well. Then there was the woman who was the subject of a search that kept a plane grounded for hours.

[WestCoastGal]

There were reports that it was possible that people were trying to hide some of these items in body cavities. There has been a lot of odd behavior on flights and notes left that were false alarms. Quite posssible a lot of testing of our security going on. I don't remember anything specifically being left behind, although somewhere in the vast information area in my brain from reading all these threads there is a faint glimmer of something like that...but what? I will try to research that.

[WestCoastGal]

Yes, I think that was the muslim woman whom they were questioning as to where her husband was. I think his name was on their watch list if I'm not mistaken.

[oceanview]

how do you stop contact lens kits? how do you stop body cavity bombers?

[WoofDog123]

I think political reality is that these measures will only be enacted after there is a demonstrated** threat, i.e. attempted or successful bombing. It seems to be the nature of the political beast, including whatever pre-9/11/01 intelligence regarding airline attacks they had.

I am amazed there have been no (Unless the NY/queens crash was one) successful attacks on commercial aviation in the last 2 years. The target (i.e. a plane with flyers like myself on it, which I DO take seriously, since CO17 GLA-EWR is a route I fly periodically) is pretty much impossible to really defend if the enemy is willing to settle for simply destroying the plane.

Perhaps the leaderships of various terrorist entities have realized, after seeing the US invade and topple two muslim countries (a quasi-theocracy and a secular dictatorship) in the last 2 years, that one more high-profile attack would result in even more invasions of muslim countries. Presumably their host countries realize this as well, and have exercised some pressure on them.

I think the media has completely misread, or at least mis-depicted, the public's probable reaction to another terrorist attack in the US or on a US airliner. If the 'public' were to be mad at bush, it would be for letting muslims on planes in the first place, not for 'failing to do enough' in PC security terms against an enemy with many options for improvision.

[Brad's Gramma]

bttt

[WoofDog123]

"how do you stop contact lens kits? how do you stop body cavity bombers?"

If we work from the administration's premise that people of all nationalities, religions, races, ages, other profilable items, etc., have an equal right to fly without discrimination, it is absolutely impossible.

I would like to see a scientific poll on the % of the public that supports profiling, altering access for travellers of certain ethnic backgrounds (islamic). I bet it is over 50%.

[mtbopfuyn]

The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say.

What took them so long? I had that figured out years ago.

[itsnevertoolate]

We carry on items like camera gear to protect them from destruction by the checked baggage handlers, not so that we can use them during the flight. I have seen far too many bags drop from the conveyors to the tarmac to trust lenses and cameras worth thousands of dollars to checked baggage.

[eno_]

Tony Blair stood a good chance of seeing that flight crash. He was vacationing in Egypt at the time, at a beach resort just north of the crash site.

Kind of line AA587, which almost crashed on the house of the firefighter famous for telling Osama to kiss his ass. Oh, and the UNGA was in session. And Bush was in NYC that day or the day before.

[eno_]

Our Founders gave us freedom of association.

That SHOULD mean that if I want to start "No Raghead Airlines" and offer service only to non-Moslems, I should be free to do so. I daresay I could charge $50-$200 more per ticket and make money hand over fist.

[eno_]

I once watched ten minutes of rampers HURLING luggage as hard as possible into luggage cars towed by a tractor. One bag fell out and was run over by five cars. The rampers were laughing their asses off.

This is why my carry-on is a $600 "belting leather" Hartman that matches my Hartman briefcase, and my checked rolling bag is a $69.95 "Kirkland" from Costco. I'd use a plastic garbage bag if I was certain a client would never see it.

[Quix]

ALRIGHT everybody out of the pool. ENOUGH of this nonsense.

NOTICE: HEREAFTER, FLIGHTS WILL OCCUR ONLY UNDER THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES:

1) Passengers will change clothes into an airline tough paper jumpsuit provided at checkin with ic chip coding woven throughout--no substituting with counterfeit suits--each IC chip will be coded to each passenger.

2) Passengers will surrender all jewelry, hats, watches and shoes at checkin. Flight slippers will be provided also woven throughout with ic chips. Glasses will be X-Rayed and analyzed thoroughly at checkin.

3) 1-3 books will be allowed depending on the length of the flight. Limited medicines will be allowed consistent with the length of the flight. All other carryon items will be stored in carryon luggage and locked in the overhead luggage racks from the moment the door of the aircraft is shut until it opens at arrival. Carryon luggage will be thoroughly screened for every passenger. Questionable items will not board the aircraft. Security personnel's decision is final. You may pay to have them mailed to a local contact.

4) Coats are not allowed. Extra blankets are avaliable in flight.

5) Nothing may be carried by the passenger to the lavetory. Every conceivable toiletry article will be provided in each lavetory. Lavetory requests must be keyed ahead of time to the head steward from your seat tray keyboard. Requests will normally be met on a first come, first serve basis. Lavetory activities MAY be monitored by head steward for any passenger considered even slightly questionable.

6) Food utensils will consist of a spoon and chopsticks--both made out of a soy/rice noodle combination. Their stiffness will last most of the meal if the meal is eaten moderately rapidly. The chopsticks have very blunt ends and are larger in diameter than normal. Airport dining halls will give lessons in chopstick use.

7) Electronic phones, cameras, notebook computers, CD players, MP3 players and the like are prohibited in the cabin and must be in checked luggage. A wide range of music is available on the inflight entertainment channels.

8) Seatback and tray keyboards and screens can access the net at rapid speed and serve all your computing needs. You can transfer any work files online to your office or home computers. No copying medium will be needed or allowed.

9) If you have no credit card and anticipate buying inflight extras, make a deposit at the time of ticket purchase double the anticipated expenditures. All your pocket items including wallet, ID etc. except for your ticket will be secured in small locked bags at checkin. you will have a coded card for the bag and the head steward will have a card. You retrieve your pocket items bag as you deplane by the head steward's station.

10) Tissues, Q-tips, children's games, chess sets etc. must be requested at time of ticketing or no later than checkin. These will be provided inflight out of the plane's stores.

11) Specialized food items must be requested at time of ticketing. You may not provide your own.

12) The costs for the above will be 35% the cost of the ticket. Have a happy flight.

[eno_]

"Air Gitmo?"

[gcruse]

If we don't bloody Egypt's nose soon, I will be awfully annoyed.

Bloody their noses while we give them money so they can buy our air to air missiles?   Bloody unlikely.

[Quix]

or

tAERREORIST AERREOSHACKLES

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

i suppose this was one of the 12 dry runs:

___________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, 26 September, 2002, 16:44 GMT 17:44 UK Explosives found on Morocco jet The plane arrived from Marrakesh on Wednesday Police in France are investigating the discovery of a small stick of plastic explosives on a plane belonging to the Moroccan airline, Royal Air Maroc. The explosives, weighing about 100 grams and wrapped in aluminium, were found during a customs check aboard the Boeing 737 at Metz-Nancy airport in eastern France late on Wednesday. At this stage of the inquiry... it's not possible to offer any serious theories about the origin or the purpose of the material on board the aircraft Royal Air Maroc statement The airline said investigations had so far revealed nothing about the source or destination of the explosives. Sniffer dogs found the stick hidden between two seats during a check of the aircraft after passengers had disembarked. There was no detonator. French investigators are pursuing identity checks on the 160 passengers on the flight as well as the aircraft's crew. The two passengers seated near the explosives were found to be tourists with no criminal records, investigators said. No-one has yet been detained in connection with the incident, nor has anyone claimed responsibility for placing the explosives on the plane. 'Shoe' explosive Investigators have speculated that the incident was either a delivery gone wrong or a bombing in progress. No-one has been detained in connection with the incident French experts have said the quantity of pentrite found on the plane did not constitute in itself a threat. Pentrite is a granular powder which can be used alone or in composition with other chemicals such as Semtex. Semtex was used in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people. Pentrite is also the substance that was found in the shoes of Richard Reid, a British man who allegedly tried to blow up an airliner heading from Paris to Miami with a bomb in his shoes. Special anti-terrorism police are investigating the find, along with the counter-intelligence agency known as the DST and local police. The weekly Royal Air Maroc flight, which arrived from Marrakesh late on Wednesday, returned to Morocco early on Thursday. Marrakesh, in east-central Morocco, is one of the North African country's main tourist destinations.

See also: 26 Aug 99 | Europe Moroccan airline hijacker surrenders Internet links: Metz-Nancy Airport Royal Air Maroc The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Europe stories now: Prominent Kosovo suspect held Turkey ups stakes on US troops 'New Europe' backs EU on Iraq Omagh detectives make arrest Beckham forgives Ferguson Blair keeps euro options open Waiter jailed for underage sex Democratic test for Armenia Links to more Europe stories are at the foot of the page.

[FreedomCalls]

how do you stop contact lens kits? how do you stop body cavity bombers?

Stop attempting to keep weapons off of commercial aircraft and start attempting to keep terrorists off of commercial aircraft. Israel does a tremendous job of this simply by hiring college kids to ask a lot of innocuous questions of prospective travelers. The answers they give reveal a great deal about them. El Al has had no terrorists incidents as a result even though they have been target number one for terrorists for decades.

[eno_]

Stop attempting to keep weapons off of commercial aircraft and start attempting to keep terrorists off of commercial aircraft.

EFFING BRILLIANT! I want to kiss you, or maybe jsut nominate you for a Nobel Prize.

[Quix]

MUCH TRUTH IN THAT.

Never felt safer on an international plane than on El Al.

[jonsie]

I now understand why they said they don't want people to congregate near the restrooms.

[blam]

"If a plane is taken down by this tactic, I would expect carry-on luggage will be pretty much banned. Regardless, this is the sort of tactic that, if extrapolated, is very difficult to defeat by the engagement rules the west is towards muslim passengers in general."

Fight fire with fire? For each of our planes they blow-up...blow-up two plane loads of (innocent) pilgrims going to Mecca. That ought to get their attention.

[American in Israel]

In May 2002 nearly 100 grammes of pentrite, a plastic explosive used by the alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid, was found hidden in the armrest of a Moroccan jet when it landed in Metz, France

Replace it with modeling clay and when some idiot blows his thumb off with a det cap and no explosives you got a new "un-intellegence" lead. I think we should remind the world that blowing up a civilian aircraft is an act of war and the Countries who's citizens take part in such activitys will pay the price. As it is, such activity is considered "allah allah income free".

[American in Israel]

El Al has a non ethinic policy, they search and xray all luggage. It takes hours to be cleared for a flight, but then, they have never lost a plane.

If we us ethnic means, then they will just pick ethnic converts that do not fit the profile.

[WoofDog123]

"If we us ethnic means, then they will just pick ethnic converts that do not fit the profile."

I agree, that would be the next step. I don't have answers to this problem, but it does concern me greatly. There is simply no way to secure an open society against an enemy who considers his death an integral part of the outcome of his attack on soft targets.

[holyscroller]

It's also time to start paying MUCH closer attention to cleaning crews, food and food service workers, baggage handlers, mechanics, fuel deliverers...ANYONE who comes near or on the plane. Any of them could deliver components.

[tahoeblue]

It seems doubtful as the plane crashed just after takeoff. Too soon, it would seem, to have five people assemble a bomb and explode it. That doesn't rule out other instigated events, but probably not this exact scenario.

-tb

[JSteff]

"threat of a 'spectacular' attack "

If it happens we can just neutron nuke the ME and be done with this for ever. They are all dead and the oil is ours. End of story.

Drastic, but I am sick of the religion of peace and all it's cultists. They really don't want to live in the world with us anyway.

[JSteff]

You may be right. I thought something like that when it happened.

[JSteff]

"But I can't think of anything else a person actually needs while he is in an airplane."

I was sort of repulsed and then laughed at the thought of flights of only nude people. Would it save the airline business or end it?

[JSteff]

I would buy stock in it.

[the invisib1e hand]

Our Founders gave us freedom of association. That SHOULD mean that if I want to start "No Raghead Airlines" and offer service only to non-Moslems, I should be free to do so. I daresay I could charge $50-$200 more per ticket and make money hand over fist.

interesting concept...i wonder if we all had similar ideas as we read this...

of course, this is already being done via profiling, but it's hush-hush.

[Squantos]

#6.............Spork !

[pepsionice]

The Egyptian air flight was mechanical problems....at least everything still points that way...the aircraft had prior identified problems apparently that mechanics were constantly working on.

[Yehuda]

'In many cases of suspicious passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's forward lavatory.'

solution: toilet-cams, viewable on the in flight movie channel...

[bonfire]

How do you stop all the things a baby needs? Bottles, pacifiers, diapers, etc.. etc.

[bonfire]

I would be your first customer!

[bonfire]

LOL!!! (ewwwww)

[Yehuda]

Sign in Arabic:

"These lavatories are under constant video surveillance..."

,(:>)

[FairOpinion]

YOu forgot to add the requirement for passengers to be examined by ear-nose-throat doctors, gynecologists and proctologists, as well as x-rayed.

How about providing the naked passengers with porta-potties in their seat and just handcuffing them to the seats?

All this would really make the airline business boom. (/sarcasm)

[FairOpinion]

"Stop attempting to keep weapons off of commercial aircraft and start attempting to keep terrorists off of commercial aircraft. "

==

What, and then be accused of discriminating againt terrorists? The ACLU would shut any airline down, who tried to do that.