It sounds a little paranoid, but we can reasonably assume Al Quaida has trained people in assasination. Also, if foreign governments' spy agencies are involved, we can also assume a high level of training for those people
In my experience as a newspaper photog covering fires since 1970 and as a coroner's investigator for four years, an under hood or dashboard fire is more often the cause of an accident or collision than a fire is likely to result as an aftereffect of a single vehicle collision, though there are exceptions, notably with Pintos, fuel tank ruptures on vehicles with catalytic converters, and Corvettes; and the old Chevy Corvairs with fuel tanks in front of the driver could be spectacular in a head-on.
It's also understandable how the sudden appearance of smoke and flame coming from beneath the dashboard might be a wee bit distracting to a driver, whose chances of then having a collision are predicated as much by the availability of other vehicles with which to collide, failing which something stationary and solid will suffice.
But rather than go to the complication of arranging an accident in which the vehicle or occupant then burns, it's far simpler to arrange an incendiary device that ignites the passenger, the real target, and then *maybe* conceals the evidence with a fire that consumes the vehicle. And some improvised explosive charges, if improperly detonated in a container that ruptures, can result in an intense blaze instead. And I'm sure that the various terrorist organizations are very familiar with both incendiaries and improvised chemical mixtures.
-archy-/-
