Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - August 2006

[JellyJam]

#9 looks pretty baby-faced ... he could easily mix into a crowd.

[nwctwx]

Reminder: Ingredients for Bojinka plot bombs.

--


The bomb

The "Mark II" "microbombs" had Casio digital watches as the timers, stabilizers that looked like cotton wool balls, and an undetectable nitroglycerin as the explosive. Other ingredients included glycerin, nitrate, sulfuric acid, and minute concentrations of nitrobenzene, silver azide (silver trinitride), and liquid acetone. Two 9-volt batteries in each bomb were used as a power source. The batteries would be connected to light bulb filaments that would detonate the bomb. The watch was a database watch that had no arms. Murad and Yousef wired an SCR as the switch to trigger the filaments to detonate the bomb. There was an external socket hidden when the wires were pushed under the watch base as the bomber would wear it. The alteration was so small that the watch could still be worn in a normal manner.

Yousef got batteries past airport security during his December 11 test bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434 by hiding them in hollowed-out heels of his shoes. Yousef smuggled the nitroglycerin on board by putting it inside a contact lens solution bottle.

The density of the explosive cocktail would be about 1.3.

http://www.answers.com/topic/oplan-bojinka

[JellyJam]

from NYT:

The plot was foiled in early 1995, when a fire broke out in the apartment where some of the plotters were working. Among the things found when the police investigated was Yousef’s laptop computer, containing a file called Bojinka. The police also found dolls wearing clothes containing nitrocellulose, according to the 9/11 report.

[Velveeta]

"perfume"

[Velveeta]

Former flight attendant gets 22 years for setting fire on jet
The Associated Press, Aug. 10, 2006

ATLANTA


A former flight attendant accused of setting a fire in an aircraft lavatory was sentenced Thursday to more than 22 years in prison after being convicted of damaging an aircraft with fire and other charges.

Turhan Jamar Lamons, 26, of Morrow, Ga., was working as the sole attendant on a Comair flight from Atlanta to Huntsville, Ala., in 2003 when he set the fire, said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias.

When Lamons reported smoke in the lavatory, the jet was forced to make an emergency landing about 20 minutes after takeoff, Nahmias said. Authorities concluded that the fire was set and determined Lamons was the only person who entered the lavatory.

"Lamons was a real threat to the safety of civil aviation," Nahmias said Thursday. "The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute with vigor and determination all those whose actions threaten the safety of the flying public."

The charges against Lamons stemmed from two incidents: The 2003 case and another in 2001.(snip)
http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=134754

[ExSoldier]

22? I thought they have 21 in custody. Investigations continue...I s'pose...

[Velveeta]

Last night..er actually very early this morning they were saying they had 20 in custody and were looking for 2 more.
The 22 just stuck with me.

[Velveeta]

5 terror suspects in London plot still at large
http://abcnews.go.com/

[Velveeta]

Explosive Gel Was to Be Concealed in Sports Drink
August 10, 2006 1:56 PM

Richard Esposito Reports:

The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera.

ABC News has learned exclusively that the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive.

This, they thought, would ensure that they would be able to pass through security -- even if they were asked to unseal and drink the beverage.

The flash in a disposable camera has enough electrical power, they apparently believed, to set off the homemade explosive.

There are any number of homemade or modified commercial liquids that would have made effective explosives, with enough energy to damage or destroy a plane.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/

[JellyJam]

Yikes!

[Velveeta]

Five London Suspects Still at Large
August 10, 2006 1:30 PM

Brian Ross Reports:

Five of the suspected London terrorists are still at large and are being urgently hunted, according to U.S. sources who have been briefed on the airplane bombing plot.

Officials tell ABC News 24 people now have been taken into custody. Twenty-two are believed to be of Pakistani descent. One is Bangladeshi, and another is of Iranian descent, according to the officials.

One of the arrests was made in the northeastern London suburb of Walthamstow. Residents said police took away a man in his late 20s at 2 a.m. today. The neighbors said the man was British-born, with one parent who is Iranian and had recently become very religious.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/

[watchwoman]

Long term TM lurker Watchwoman here...just had to chime in with my story which seems particularly fitting now.

My family and I went to Europe on vacation and just last Friday we flew back on a Continental flight from Birmingham England to Newark. I'm SOOOOO glad we did not get caught up in all of this! We had plenty of carry-on luggage filled with all sorts of liquids.

Anyway...there were 4 of us traveling, hubby and me and two teenaged daughters, so we were riding two by two, the girls were in the row behing hubby and me with one empty chair. It stayed empty literrally until the last minute when a young middle-eastern looking man came and took the seat. A little while later, a flight attendant came back to him and said she required an address where he would be staying in the U.S., and she needed to take his passport for "further checks" since he checked in so late. It was NOT filling me with warm fuzzies to have this guy sitting next to my daughters!

Then it got even stranger...a different flight attendant came back with his passport - and she was rebuking him for "leaving it" unattended. He said in his broken English, "No, you take! you take!" but she continued to lecture him about not leaving his passport unattended. At that point, we almost felt sorry for the guy. VERY STRANGE. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we never heard another peep our of him. He nodded and smiled goodbye to my daughters as we gathered our luggage in the terminal after landing.

As the week went on and the news of the Egyptian students unfolded I couldn't help wondering if he was one! Or could there possibly have been trial runs for this latest plot...?

The airline personnel seemed definitely to be on guard, at any rate, but at the same time they didn't seem to have it all together either.

[JellyJam]

How unnerving, but glad to hear it ended quietly (and safely) for you and your family.

[Godzilla]

bttt

[JellyJam]

AP NEWS ALERT:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Two Pakistani officials say the country’s intelligence service helped Britain to crack the aircraft terror plot.

[Velveeta]

Did you check the pictures of the Egyptians?

Scary experience! I'm glad you're all back safely.

[Velveeta]

Suspicious Item Found On Boston-To-Austin Flight

Aug 10, 2006 01:25 PM CDT

A suspicious item was found on a Jet Blue plane from Boston to Austin on Thursday.

The FBI is interviewing passengers from the flight, which landed safely at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The airport won't say what the suspicious item was, but they said it had nothing to do with the new restrictions placed Thursday as a result of the thwarted terror plot involving flights between Great Britain and the U.S.

Watch KXAN NBC Austin News First At Four for more coverage of this developing story. And keep an eye on KXAN.com for ongoing updates during the day.
http://www.kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=5265951&ClientType=Printable

[Velveeta]

ABC News Exclusive: Three Alleged Ringleaders ID'd
ABC News ^ | 8/10/2006 | ABC News


Posted on 08/10/2006 1:11:47 PM CDT by Sleeping Freeper


Three of the alleged ringleaders of the foiled airplane bomb plot have been identified by western intelligence agencies involved in unraveling the plot.

Two of them are believed to have recently traveled to Pakistan and were later in receipt of money wired to them from Pakistan, reportedly to purchase tickets for the suicide bombers.

Sources identify the three, who are now in custody, as:

--Rashid Rauf

--Mohammed al-Ghandra

--Ahmed al Khan


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681292/posts

[freeperfromnj]

NJ Transit Increases Rail & Bus Security

NEWARK, N.J. -- NJ Transit rail and bus passengers are seeing more police officers on patrol.

The mass transit agency increased security as a precaution after the airline terror plot was uncovered even though there's no direct threat.

A NJ Transit spokesman said uniformed and plainclothes officers are riding trains and buses.

http://www.1010wins.com/pages/67214.php

[Godzilla]

Special Terrorism Summary 08/10/06
Israel At War

Godzilla Observations
Wake up today and have two surprises. First is the foiled terror plot which is taking up most of the bandwidth. The second is that after a lightening start, Olmert put the brakes on the IDF offensive. What did I say yesterday - I doubted Olmert’s resolution to go forward with the operation, but I didn’t think he’d back off so soon. The expanded Israeli ground offensive up to the Litani River and beyond has been put on hold for 48 hours Thursday to allow diplomacy to kick in. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Thursday he will not tip off Hezbollah terrorists by announcing in advance if and when the IDF will widen its retaliation in Lebanon. Army operations do not do well when jerked around like this. An old saying goes here “Lead, follow or get out of the way”. Time for the Olmert government to ‘get out of the way’ of the IDF and let them do their job.

Syria Checks Its Bomb Shelters
The country begins checks of its public bomb shelters for the first time since 1973.Syrian media outlets reported Wednesday that while residents of towns on the border with Israel are independently looking after themselves and shelters, the 'civil guard' began checking the state of bomb shelters in Damascus. Not too worried about this, Syria would be stupid to try to take on Israel.

Iranian Soldier Among Dead Hezbollah – (As if we didn’t already suspect)
Iranian soldiers were found among the bodies of Hezbollah gunmen killed by Israel during the past few days of the Jewish state's military campaign in Lebanon. As much as many would like Israel to strike Iran, this is not enough justification on a world opinion level to launch such an attack.

Iran Issues War Preparation Orders
In the first such order, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has directed its more than 300,000 troops to prepare for a confrontation with Israel and the United States. IRGC has directed and participated in the Hezbollah war against Israel. "Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards and Basij should prepare themselves to get even with Zionists and Americans," IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi said. "The supreme leader [Ali Khamenei] will announce the time for this." I suspect this is more saber rattling, just like the war games earlier. The main concern is if this is a smokescreen in preparations for what ever the mad man of iran has planned for Aug 22.

Mubarak Not Kowtowed
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that "relations with Israel serve as the best way to end the crisis," in response to opposition pressure calling on him to recall the Egyptian ambassador in Israel and the freezing of diplomatic relations between the countries. Peace has meant greater prosperity thru trade and cooperation with Israel, Mubarak is not going to threaten that.

IDF Ground Offensive
I expected to have a lot more to post after yesterday’s kickoff. However, the latest 48 hour “pause” stopped that overnight. IDF forces advanced Wednesday night to Marjayoun, and took up positions around the Lebanese town, which is located 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) north of the border with Israel, They’ve taken up positions on a strategic hill overlooking Litani River valley to the west, from where Hizbullah fires rockets at Israel. Marjayoun is a Christian town was used as the Israel Defense Forces' main base in the security zone until the withdrawal from southern Lebanon in the year 2000. The push towards Marjayoun is designed to deny Hezbollah use of the area to launch the short range Katushas into Qiryat Shedmona as well as providing a staging area to push westward along the Litani. Recent indicators suggest that IDF will push along both banks of the river, having been given permission to move northward into other rocket launching areas, such as around Nabatiye.

I am also reverting to my earlier depiction of the IDF in the western portion of the border area. There just isn’t enough supportive data to indicate that they have pushed into all that territory at this time. It is also not apparent if the westward push towards Qantara was successful or not, but I suspect that they still have a limited presence in that direction.

While frustrating to the IDF, it does give the new Northern Command General a little more time to plan and get follow-on forces into place.

The IDF reports that about nine brigades, comprising both reserve and regular forces, are active in Lebanon. Troops are already about 12 kilometers (roughly 8 miles) into Lebanon – about 10 kilometers away from the Litani River. However, my tracking does not depict that depth of penetration in the western and central sectors. They are reported to be slowly moving north, but they aren’t at the half way mark yet, IMHO, pending further reporting.

IAF Activity
They’ve continued to attack select targets. Nothing beyond what has now become common.

Hezbollah Rockets
Approximately 165 rockets were fired at Israel on Thursday. Two people were killed and a man was seriously injured by a rocket that hit a house in an Arab village near Carmel. Accuracy continues to be down, with many rockets falling harmlessly in open fields. Hezbollah may have lost some key planners and fire direction controls in the past several days.