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Search Results, Oct. 31, 2005:

SCHOOL + THREAT

US:

Orlando School Evacuated After Bomb Explodes
FR THREAD LINK (Title and first paragraph are slightly misleading. The bomb exploded sometime over the weekend or early Monday morning before classes started. A Second article from Orlando Sentinel (available at FR Thread link) states that the device was a PIPE BOMB. - LR)
A middle school in Orlando, Fla., was evacuated Monday after a small bomb exploded in the girls' locker room, according to Local 6 News.
Investigators said coaches at Memorial Middle School were walking through the girls' locker room and spotted a device that had already exploded.
Detectives believe the explosive was thrown though a window and caused a small fire sometime over the weekend or early Monday.
It was not determined what type of device was thrown into the building but it was deliberately thrown, according to officials.
"The device was thrown through a window and it was possibly an incendiary or explosive," Orange County fire Asst. Chief Rudolph Johnson said. "It went through a window and hit a heater and dropped to the floor. The device caused some moderate burns to the floor and walls."

World:
New Dehli, India:
String of bomb hoax calls in city
A string of bomb hoax calls today kept police on their toes, a day after the serial blasts killed 59 people and injured over 200 others.
A phone call that a bomb had been kept in a school for the visually challenged in Nizamuddin area in south Delhi sent police into a tizzy.

EXPLOSION:

US...
West Mifflin, PA:
Teen Hospitalized After Explosion In West Mifflin
(Video at link. This 18-year-old was visiting his aunt when it happened - no word on what type of device it was. News report states he underwent reconstructive surgery to repair missing fingertips and an index finger. - LR)
West Mifflin (KDKA) A Maryland teenager is in Mercy Hospital tonight after what officials describe as an explosion at a relative's house in West Mifflin.
(...)According to the West Mifflin Fire Department, a type of explosive device went off in Dukes' hand on the second floor of the home.

(More info about the story above...)
West Mifflin, PA:
Explosion Shatters Sink, Injures Man
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. -- A local man remains in serious condition after an explosion shattered a sink.
(...)The blast left only a faucet behind when it went off inside a bathroom.
Police are not sure what type of explosive it was.
They believe it may have been a firework or a half stick of dynamite.
Dukes' aunt said Dukes was in a bedroom when he lit the explosive.
He then ran to the bathroom to try and douse it.

Portland/Gresham, OR:
MAX disrupted by explosion, man trapped under train(Registration Req'd)
Tri-Met's MAX commuter train service was briefly disrupted twice in a 24-hour period this weekend -- one incident involved a man who was trapped under a train, while the other case was an exploding ticket machine at a MAX stop.
(...)Police were trying to determine what triggered the blast that destroyed a ticket machine at the MAX station at 181st and Burnside in Gresham about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Portland Police Bomb Squad said Sunday it appeared the blast was triggered by some type of homemade device. It was unclear if the device was the work of a pre-Halloween prankster or if there was some other motive.
Elsewhere, Portland firefighters rescued a man late Friday night who slipped and became stuck underneath a MAX train at the 82nd Ave. Transit Station. It took rescuers about 20 minutes to free him.

Omaha, NE:
Man Arrested After Explosion Near Ak-Sar-Ben
(More details including police statements at the link above. Police said they observed someone "lighting a plastic tube with an explosive device inside". - LR)
OMAHA, Neb. -- There was an explosion near the Ak-Sar-Ben neighborhood early Sunday morning and the Omaha bomb-squad was called in to detonate a device.
Police arrested Maurice Bryant, 31, for allegedly lighting a dry ice bomb.
(...) "We were trying to make smoke in the yard, because if you take dry ice and ad boiling water to it, it makes this really nice smoke," Aylor said.

WORLD...
Russia:
Criminal cases opened in mobile operator station explosion in North Caucasus
(Mobile phone service out of order in the area - may be out for 1-4 weeks in some sections -LR)
NAZRAN, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Interior Ministry said Monday that it has opened a criminal case into the explosion of a basic station belonging to mobile phone operator MegaFon in the North Caucasus early Sunday.
The explosion went off at 4:00 a.m. Moscow time (1:00 a.m. GMT) in Nazran, the capital of the North Caucasians Republic of Ingushetia, and was equivalent to 1.5 kilograms of TNT. No victims were reported.

Nepal:
Two children killed in an explosion
Two children of a same family were killed when a bomb left by the Maoists went off at Asine jungle area in Tehrathum district last Tuesday, according to Kantipur daily.
The Sherpa kids aging nine and 14 years, of Shrijung VDC-2 , who had gone to the jungle to collect fruits died in the incident.

Iraq:
Five Iraqis wounded in bomb car explosion
BAGHDAD, Oct 31 (KUNA) -- Five Iraqis were wounded Monday in a bomb car explosion in northern Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
(...)In Kirkuk, two policemen were injured in a bomb attack on their patrol, according to the police.
(...)On a related arena, the Iraq-based Multi-National Forces (MNF) said US warplanes air-raided the Karabla area near the borders with Syria.
MNF spokeswoman Lt. Christina Schiken said the raid targeted Al-Qaeda leader's safe house in the town.

SUSPICIOUS DEVICE/PACKAGE:

Columbus, OH:
Suspicious Package Found Outside Police Headquarters
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Police said they were questioning a man who left a suspicious package outside the Columbus Division of Police headquarters early Monday.
(...)Hazardous materials crews were called to the scene. Officials later determined the contents inside the bag were not hazardous, Scarborough reported.

AL QAEDA/AL QAIDA:

UK:
Al Qaida suspect avoids extradition
An alleged al Qaida terrorist being held in the UK but wanted in Italy no longer faces extradition because it has taken too long to process the request, the Home Office has said.
Farj Hassan Faraj, 24, was arrested under the 2000 Prevention of Terrorism Act by British authorities in May 2002 after claiming asylum in March that year.
A three-year deadline for Faraj to be passed to the Italian authorities has now run out, even though an extradition bid was backed by the High Court in December last year.

Via Ireland:
US aircraft bomb suspected al-Qaida safe-houses
(Sort of a "round-up" article - several events detailed - LR)
US jets bombed two insurgent “safe houses” near the Syrian border today in an attack aimed at al-Qaida in Iraq.
Coalition forces also swept through several areas of Baghdad, taking nearly 100 suspected militants into custody.
Two separate mortar attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed three people and wounded 11. A car bomb and two drive-by shootings in the capital killed a construction contractor and wounded six people, police said.

India via UPI:
Terror acquires global dimension in India
NEW DELHI, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Saturday's serial blasts at three of the busiest markets in India's capital of New Delhi is the first ever evidence that terrorism here has acquired global dimension as carnage was carried out jointly by Lashker-e-Toiba and dreaded international terror outfit al-Qaida, said Indian terrorism and strategic affairs expert Monday.
"The group Islami Inquilabi Mahaz that has claimed responsibility for Saturday's bomb blasts in Delhi is another name of Lashker-e-Toiba and is the best known as (a) successor terrorist outfit of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida," said Ajai Sahani, executive director of the Indian Institute of Conflict Management, a New Delhi based think tank.
He said the modus operandi clearly establishes that the operation was carried out with the active participation and logistic support provided by al-Qaida. Sahani said this is the first ever operation in India that was executed in al-Qaida's style.

FLASHBACK to 10/26 & 10/27: Related to the bombing in India?
Al-Qaeda man on prowl in Delhi NEW DELHI: An al-Qaeda terrorist, Mohammed Majoodi, has sneaked into the country with the intention of targeting US centres in major Indian metros, intelligence sources said.
(...) According to security sources, intelligence and police agencies have launched a high-intensity hunt for the terrorist over the past six days. According to intelligence inputs, Majoodi has been in India for several weeks and has spent time in Hyderabad and Mumbai.

AND...
TERRORISM: MEMBER OF Al-QAEDA IN INDIA TO HIT AMERICAN INTERESTS
Mumbai, 27 Oct. (AKI) - Indian security forces are hunting down a terrorist linked to the al-Qaeda network, who may have succeeded in entering the country with the aim of targeting American interests in India. Behind the recent alarm issued to the US consolates and cultural centres in major Indian cities, is the figure of Mohammed Majoodi, according to national inteliigence sources cited in the national daily, 'Times of India'. Majoodi is an Islamist expert in car-bombs who until now has been based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Iraq:
Al-Qaida in Iraq claiming responsibility for killing of vice president's brother
(Baghdad, Iraq-AP) Oct. 30, 2005 - Al-Qaida in Iraq is claiming responsibility for the shooting death of a brother of one of Iraq's two vice presidents.
The statement's authenticity can't be verified.

TERRORIST/TERRORISM:

Phillipines via Phillipine Daily Inquirer:
ABS-CBN says reporter didn't post terrorist's bail
(Long article details several arrests of the suspected terrorist, and reasons behind his arrest. Also quotes from a military investigator regarding the posting of bond in this case. This originally took place back in April of this year, but this article was published today. - LR)
LACK of an antiterrorism law in the country, not intervention by media, caused the release of terror suspect Tyrone del Rosario Santos, alias Dawud Muslim Santos, ABS-CBN said in a statement yesterday.
The broadcasting giant issued the statement after the Inquirer reported that one of ABS-CBN’s broadcasters, Julius Babao, had been named by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the one who provided bail for Santos.
(...)Asked if the military did not investigate the matter further, the officer said it did and learned that the bail had come from Babao.
"Sa kanya galing 'yun (The bail money came from him)," he said.
(...)But Babao has categorically denied posting bail for Santos.
The broadcaster said it was audio expert Jonathan Tiongco who arranged for the bail. Environment Secretary Michael Defensor had presented Tiongco to the public in August in an effort to prove that the "Hello Garci" tapes were fake.
"Tiongco offered to help because he said Santos had been framed. I merely connected them, that's all," Babao had said.

Russia:
Teenager detained on terrorist charges
Prosecutors on Monday appealed the acquittal earlier this year of a Dutch-Moroccan teenager suspected of plotting attacks on politicians or government targets, just two weeks after he was arrested again for planning what appeared to be a suicide assault.
Samir Azzouz, 19, was freed last April when a court found insufficient evidence that he had prepared attacks on Schiphol international airport or the Dutch nuclear reactor. He was convicted of lesser charges of illegally possessing a pellet gun and ammunition clips, but was immediately released because he had been jailed for longer than his three-month sentence.
(...)Azzouz was arrested again during an anti-terror sweep in three Dutch cities Oct. 14, along with five other men and a woman. It was the third time in two years he has been arrested for suspected terrorist activities.
At an initial hearing two weeks ago, prosecutors disclosed they had found a "farewell" video Azzouz had prepared for family and friends, similar to videos left by suicide bombers in the Palestinian territories and Iraq.

Pakistan:
Contributors to terrorism must be stopped, says Musharraf
* Urges restraint in US, Iran, Syria disputes
* Denies haggling on opening LoC
* Says Israel must be engaged for solution to Palestine
* Says he supports demilitarisation
LAHORE: President Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday that any country contributing to terrorism and militancy must be stopped.
In an interview with the Saudi newspaper Arab News, Musharraf urged a reconciliatory approach in international relations, but was adamant on the issue of extremism. “Let’s put an end to terrorism, extremism and militancy,” Musharraf told Khaled Almaeena of Arab News. “If the actions of any country are contributing to suicide bombings, militancy and extremism, they must be stopped.” The president advised the US, Syria and Iran to refrain from confrontation and adopt a reconciliatory approach in international relations. He said that confrontation with Iran was not possible for the world community at present. “I tell (the US administration) that we have to close fronts,” Musharraf told Arab News. “We cannot afford so many fronts. We have a front in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir. Let us close all these fronts because they are affecting the Muslim world.”

India:
'Top Pak army officials abetting terrorism'
Monday, October 31, 2005, New Delhi: Pakistan may have been quick to denounce the Delhi blasts, but Indian Army and the intelligence believe that senior officials of General Pervez Musharraf's regime, especially top army men, are actively abetting terrorism.
"The growing desperation of Pakistan-based terrorist organisations and an influential section of the Pakistan army officers with fundamentalist leanings frustrated by the Indo-Pak peace process might be one of the reason behind the recent spurt in terrorist strikes in India," said a well-placed intelligence official.

Dhaka:
Militants to bomb 5 capitals in South Asia: reports
DHAKA, Oct. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Islamist militants had plans to bomb five capitals of South Asian countries to undo the 13th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) next month in Dhaka.
The widely circulated Bengali-language daily Ittefaq on Monday quoted a special unnamed source as saying that "the militants had planned to bomb the capitals -- Dhaka, New Delhi, Colombo, Islamabad and Kathmandu, to foil the summit."
(...)Meanwhile, the authorities in Dhaka have taken a fool-proof security measures to hold the summit scheduled for November 12-13.

BOMB SEARCH RESULTS:

Four U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were killed on Monday when a roadside bomb went off on their patrol just south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
The incident, around the town of Yusufiya, was one of the heaviest single U.S. losses for some time. No further details were given. (Article continues... - LR)

Bicycle bomb in Afghan city kills a civilian and wounds five
(An Eco-Friendly Terrorist? - Sorry couldn't resist - LR)
KABUL (AP) - A bomb attached to a bicycle blew up Monday in an eastern Afghan city, killing a civilian and wounding five others, police said.

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