Possibility of Plots Prompts More Checks for Explosives at Airports

By ERIC LIPTON
Published: January 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security moved Thursday to increase random checks for explosives at American airports after officials cited a heightened concern over possible terror plots against the aviation system.

Counterterrorism officials said that recent intelligence tips had hinted at a planned attack by Qaeda operatives, but that the threat information was vague and did not specify a particular target or date. Still, after failing to anticipate the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, government officials said they wanted to take every precaution.

“We must remain vigilant about the continued threat we face” from Al Qaeda, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. “We are facing a determined enemy and we appreciate the patience of all Americans and visitors to our country, and the cooperation of our international partners as well as a committed airline industry.”

The measures will include random checks with explosive-detection devices of passengers or baggage at locations around some American airports, not just at security checkpoints, one Homeland Security Department official said. The devices search for trace amounts of explosives as a sign that someone might be carrying a bomb.

Air marshals will also more frequently board flights on certain unidentified routes, officials said. Canine teams and so-called behavior detection officers — which have been deployed in larger numbers since the Dec. 25 episode — will continue to patrol airports, looking for suspicious activity or explosives.

Three American counterterrorism officials declined Thursday evening to say what prompted the new travel advisory. But they suggested that they had seen an increase in tips about a possible attack from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based group that claimed credit for the failed Dec. 25 plot. A Nigerian man was indicted last week in that case, accused of concealing explosives in his underwear on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.

“They continue to plot, and one of their major goals is to hit the United States,” one official said, adding that he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. “Everyone understands that, and we have fresh, credible evidence of it.”

The official indicated that the government had obtained the intelligence in the last few days.

“Our concern about AQAP has intensified,” said a second intelligence official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. “The threat from Al Qaeda did not end on Dec. 25.”

Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security intelligence subcommittee, said in a telephone interview that administration officials had told lawmakers in closed briefings on Wednesday that there could be “a couple of more” Yemeni-trained suicide bombers on the loose, but that the source of the information “was not very reliable.” Federal officials have said the suspect in the Dec. 25 attempt told them he had obtained explosive chemicals and a syringe from a bomb expert in Yemen.

The changes this week at airports nationwide will be modest, compared with security already in place, said a Homeland Security Department official, who said she was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. Some passengers may not even notice them, she added.

For example, pat-downs will not be required of all passengers before boarding; the practice is mandatory for anyone flying to the United States from or through 14 mostly Muslim countries. But pat-downs will occur randomly at domestic airports more often, the official said.



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THERMAL MATRIX THREAT DETECTION PROFILED ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL

January 6, 2010

TAMPA, FL – In the wake of a terrorist attack onboard a Northwest airliner late last year, threat detection technology from Thermal Matrix USA is being profiled in a series of live reports today on the Fox News Channel.

“Passengers across the world are facing tighter security when traveling by plane, including body scanners,” said Fox News anchor Patti Ann Browne. “Many argue these techniques are an invasion of privacy, but now one company has developed a way to keep us safe, without destroying our modesty.”

“It basically reads your body heat, a thermal image between you and this camera here,” said Fox News national correspondent Phil Keating as he demonstrated Thermal Matrix’s ACT system during a live report in front of the Hillsborough County Courthouse in Tampa. “You can see our subject walking down the hallway and anything that obscures the person’s body heat, between the person and the infrared camera, shows up as black on the screen. And if you’re a trained technician operating this gear, then you’re going to think, ‘Wait, this person needs to be checked out.’”

Additional Fox News reports demonstrating Thermal Matrix technology and its ability to detect explosives are scheduled throughout the day, including this evening at 7pm on The Fox Report with Shepard Smith.

The Thermal Matrix ACT system has been getting increased interest following the Christmas Day attack onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, bound from Amsterdam to Detroit. A 23-year-old Nigerian man who claimed ties to al-Qaida has been charged with trying to destroy the airliner with explosives smuggled onboard.

“There is no question terrorists will continue to target Americans, as the Flight 253 attack demonstrates,” said Michael Reinpoldt, Executive Director of Thermal Matrix. “Fortunately, ACT system technology provides a new defense far beyond the ability of metal detectors that airports and security forces can deploy immediately.”

The ACT system uses a sophisticated computer program to provide instantaneous analysis of thermal images taken from individuals. A terrorist trying to smuggle liquid, plastic or gel explosives will not be able to hide them on his body without altering that thermal image. As reported by Fox News, ACT automatically analyzes a heat signature, and provides visual proof to security personnel when a potential threat is detected.

Adding to its benefit is that the Thermal Matrix system does not generate any invasion of privacy concerns, unlike different technology used by whole body imagers (WBIs) now being tested by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Privacy concerns are so strong that some in Congress are advocating a limit on the use of active millimeter wave devices, just at the time more measures are needed to keep airline passengers and crew safe.

“The millimeter waves have a long wavelength that can penetrate most clothing, generating the explicit images that lead to privacy objections,” said Reinpoldt. “Advocates have tried to mitigate this concern by blurring out faces, or employing a second operator to view the image in a separate room. But that doesn’t stop anatomical features from being depicted, and critics won’t be satisfied with such a system. Fortunately, ACT provides the same threat detection, without any invasion of privacy concerns.”



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Makeshift Bombs Spread Beyond Afghanistan, Iraq
October 29, 2009

WASHINGTON — American military officers are expressing concern over the spreading use of makeshift bombs beyond the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan to other countries in the region, as well as in East Asia and South America.

Improvised explosive devices, as the military calls them, have been the largest killer of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, showing up with devastating effect in Pakistan and India, but also with less notice in Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Colombia, Somalia and parts of North Africa.

Even Russian security forces have faced the devices in the republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan, although attacks in Chechnya have fallen.

“There is a robust and constant I.E.D. effort among violent extremists who are using it as their weapon of choice,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, director of the Pentagon’s organization in charge of seeking ways to counter improvised explosives. “That won’t change for decades. We are in this fight for a long time.”

General Metz, who will discuss the spread of improvised bombs during testimony on Thursday before a House Armed Services subcommittee, said global I.E.D. cases outside Iraq and Afghanistan averaged about 300 per month. The count includes detonations and the discovery of intact devices. The military’s global statistics on the bombs remain classified, to prevent extremists from knowing what the United States knows. But a compilation of worldwide episodes from private-sector security consultants illustrates the threat.

Jonathan M. George, of HMS Inc., a private company that analyzes the use of improvised explosive devices and consults on countermeasures, maintains a database on cases, gathered from public documents and news reports, that military officers consider reliable enough to cite in public statements.

Mr. George said the count of improvised bombs in Afghanistan had grown from 515 in 2006 to 705 in 2007, 828 in 2008 and 955 so far this year. In Iraq, the annual figures show the count has diminished, from 4,718 in 2006 to 3,275 in 2007, 3,253 in 2008 and 1,135 so far this year.

But his compilation also tracks the larger number of I.E.D.’s that explode or are found in the rest of the world: 3,267 in 2006, 4,027 in 2007, 4,273 in 2008 and 2,121 so far in 2009. “Recent events show that although the number of I.E.D. attacks has fallen, the number of high-casualty and high-profile attacks continue to rise,” he said.

He said that Pakistan had experienced the worst problem after a rise that began in 2007, after the Pakistani military mounted an eight-day siege to end a standoff that lasted for months with Islamic extremists holed up at the Red Mosque in Islamabad. India has the second-highest number of I.E.D.’s, and the level there remains constant, Mr. George said. Thailand is third, but the number has decreased following a peak in 2007.

Extremists are not only increasing the power of their devices but also showing a grim cleverness in the delivery systems. Raids on a Tamil Tigers base in Sri Lanka uncovered an experimental, remotely controlled boat that could be loaded with explosives to slip alongside the hull of a ship for detonation.

Other American military officers say that the improvised bombs are being studied as a military tool by some state powers.

The senior American commander in South Korea, Gen. Walter L. Sharp, said that the North Koreans were studying the weapons and their uses.

“We started to work very hard, to make sure we’re learning the lessons out of Iraq and Afghanistan with I.E.D.’s and other types of devices,” General Sharp said in Washington last month. Then, in referring to the North Korean government, he added, “I’m pretty confident that they have learned” from observing how insurgents used devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American military now believes that North Korean special operations forces are training to use improvised explosives.

“I’m confident they will use those capabilities,” General Sharp said. “So we’re working very hard on that now.”

He did not elaborate on how North Korea might employ the bombs. But other American government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the assessments: While conflict with the North appears remote, the United States and South Koreans anticipate that if war breaks out, North Korean conventional forces will plant I.E.D.’s to maul any allied advance from south to north, and that North Korean commandos will try to infiltrate the south to plant them along major roadways to wound and kill civilians and allied troops.

Senior military officers confirm that American and South Korean forces on the peninsula are now incorporating countermeasures in updated war plans and practicing them in war games.

General Metz, who will retire from the military in the coming weeks, acknowledged that while the public had focused on the threat that the bombs posed to American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, part of his reason for describing the risk of spreading improvised bombs was to argue for continued financing for his organization’s work on countering them.

“What the American people do not realize is that this weapon of choice by violent extremists is being used for strategic purposes,” he said. “The United States cannot be beaten tactically by the I.E.D. — but strategically, these extremists hope to wear down our will.”

by Thom Shanker

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16 Killed In Suicide Bomb Attack On Iraq Army Base
4/16/2009 1:23 PM ET

(RTTNews) - At least 16 soldiers were killed and many more were injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside an army base in the Iraqi province of Anbar, said security officials on Thursday.

Officials said that the suicide attack took place at an army base in the town of Habania, some 15 miles east of the provincial capital of Ramadi.

They said that the suicide bomber was dressed in army uniform, adding that he blew himself up amidst soldiers who were eating lunch at the base canteen.

Anbar province was earlier considered to be the hot bed of al-Qaeda insurgency in Iraq. But the security situation in the province improved after the introduction of U.S. backed local anti-al-Qaeda groups known as Awakening Councils.

Though the violence in Iraq has dropped steeply over the past year, the security situation there still remains fragile. The U.S. has warned that the al-Qaeda network in Iraq is still capable of carrying out major attacks despite been forced out of most regions of the country.

Currently, the U.S. forces in Iraq are in the process of transferring the security responsibilities to the Iraqi government as they are preparing to withdraw from Iraq by 2011.

by RTT Staff Writer

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Suicide Attack Kills at Least 15 in Iraq
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: April 16, 2009

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber disguised in an Iraqi Army uniform blew himself up inside a base in Anbar Province on Thursday in what Iraqi Army and intelligence officials described as a grave breach of security.

The officials, however, provided starkly conflicting reports of casualties. Three army officials in Anbar, west of Baghdad, said the attack killed 15 soldiers and officers, contradicting official claims by commanders and the Ministry of Defense that no one died except the bomber. The tally of wounded ranged from as few as 17 to more than 50.

It was the second attack on security forces in Iraq in two days, punctuating a spike in bombings that has killed more than 70 people this month, including five American soldiers who died in a suicide truck bombing in northern Iraq last Friday.

The attack on Thursday took place just before lunchtime at Tamouz Air Base in Habbaniya, one of the largest and oldest military posts in Iraq, first established by the British in the 1920s.

Officials said the bomber wore a vest or belt of explosives, which he detonated as soldiers and officers of Iraq’s First Division gathered near a mess hall for lunch after morning exercises.

While Iraqi troops are routinely the targets of bombings, often carried out by men disguised in uniforms, few attackers have succeeded in penetrating so deeply into a restricted military base.

“There is a security violation,” Lt. Hussam Rahim, an officer at the base, said in an interview at a hospital in Ramadi where many of the wounded were treated. “Someone helped him to enter the base.”

The base, on the Euphrates River between Falluja and Ramadi, houses a police academy opened by the American military and the headquarters of the Iraqi Army’s quick-reaction force. More than 10,000 troops are based there, and civilians are rarely allowed to enter. Confusion often clouds accounts of attacks here, but rarely have senior officials offered such divergent reports about a death toll.

Maj. Gen. Merdhi Meshhin, the senior Iraqi commander in Anbar, said in a telephone interview that “only 17 soldiers were wounded” in the blast. Lieutenant Rahim said 26 were treated in Ramadi.

Journalists were prohibited from entering the base and the hospital, which Iraqi and American officers visited after the wounded arrived.

The American military reported an explosion at the base at 11:47 a.m., but provided no more details.

One of the three officials who reported 15 deaths suggested that commanders were playing down the toll, perhaps reflecting embarrassment over the security breach. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly and were contradicting their superiors.

Neither the official version of the death toll nor the unofficial one could be confirmed.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suicide bombings against security forces are a common tactic of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other extremist groups.

Anbar is a vast, largely Sunni province that was once the center of the insurgency here but became relatively stable after former Sunni fighters joined an uprising against Al Qaeda in late 2006 and early 2007 that became known as the Awakening.

Attacks still occur, though, and tensions have flared between former Sunni fighters and the Iraqi government over a spate of arrests of Awakening leaders and delays in paying and providing jobs to tens of thousands of Sunnis who joined forces with the Americans.

Last Saturday a suicide bomber killed 13 Awakening members receiving their pay in a village in Babil Province, south of Baghdad. On Wednesday, a bomb in a parked car exploded in Kirkuk, killing 13, most of them security guards at an oil facility.

Reporting was contributed by Suadad N. al-Salhy, Abeer Mohammed and Mohamed Hussein from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Ramadi.

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The loss of lives through the use of human-borne improvised devices (IEDs), is indicative of desperate feats repeated throughout the history of mortal conflicts.

Since the Medieval Era, when moats were built and sentries were suited with helmets and shields, the need to defeat these threats has presented a continuing challenge. Willing to sacrifice their lives, suicide bombers of today use science and technology to maximize harm inflicted.

Reports of incidents in the past month (below) reflect disturbing trends –the use of women and children – as suicide bombers.

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Suicide bomber attacks police officers, killing 7, wounding 25.

7 Killed in Pakistan in Attack on Police
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 5, 2009

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber attacked police officers in northwest Pakistan on Sunday as they treated civilians wounded by an earlier explosion, killing seven people and wounding at least 25 others, a police official said.

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Female suicide bomber wearing explosives belt kills 40.

Bomber Kills 40 at Shiite Shrine in Baghdad
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 5, 2009

BAGHDAD, Jan. 4 -- A woman wearing an explosives belt packed with ball bearings blew herself up in Baghdad near one of Iraq's most sacred Shiite shrines, killing at least 40 people and wounding scores more in a devastating attack that shattered festive celebrations ahead of Shiite Islam's holiest day, Interior Ministry officials said.

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Special correspondent Qais Mizher contributed to this report.

Suicide bomber wearing explosives belt kills 24, wounds 42.

Suicide Attack Kills 24 at Iraqi Tribal Gathering
January 3, 2009
New York Times
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and RIYADH MOHAMMED

BAGHDAD — At least 24 tribal leaders who were meeting at the house of an influential Sunni sheik to discuss national reconciliation efforts were killed and as many as 42 others were wounded Friday after a member of the tribe detonated an explosive vest among the guests, government officials said.
Reports of fatalities among the approximately 1,000 members of the Qaraghul tribe gathered for the meeting have ranged as high as 30 killed and 110 wounded, but those numbers could not be confirmed by Friday evening.

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Suicide bomber drives into Iran security headquarters, killing 4.

Rare Suicide Bombing in Iran Kills 4
December 30, 2008
New York Times
By NAZILA FATHI

TEHRAN — Employing a tactic not seen in Iran before, a suicide bomber affiliated with a Sunni militant group killed four people and wounded 12 in an attack early Monday in Saravan, a southeastern city, the official IRNA news agency reported. The group, Jundallah, has attacked Iranian armed forces and Revolutionary Guards in the past. But this was the first time it had used a suicide bombing similar to those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The news agency did not disclose details about the attack, but according to unofficial news Web sites in Iran, a suicide bomber drove into a security forces headquarters in Saravan around 7:30 a.m. local time. Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack, IRNA reported. It was not clear whether the casualties were civilians or members of the security forces.

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Suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt kills 57 people.

Suicide Bomber Kills 57 Near Kirkuk
Assault Is Deadliest In Iraq in Six Months
December 12, 2008
New York Times
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, Dec. 11 -- A suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a popular restaurant just north of Kirkuk on Thursday, killing 57 people and wounding scores more during a meeting of Arab leaders and Kurdish officials attempting to reduce ethnic tensions in the oil-rich city. Hundreds of families were inside the Abdullah restaurant, an area landmark, celebrating the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, police and hospital officials said. It was the deadliest attack in Iraq in six months. Many of the victims were women and children.
Officials said they were investigating how the bomber, who wore an explosives belt, passed through at least one Iraqi security forces checkpoint to get to the restaurant, where guards normally frisk those wishing to enter. "We still don't know how the suicide man broke through the checkpoints, and the American forces are now looking into this," said Brig. Gen Adnan Kheiru of the Kirkuk police.

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Child suicide bomber kills one, injures 15 in Kirkuk, Iraq.

6 Are Killed Amid Violence Across Iraq
December 7, 2008
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Violence on Saturday, primarily aimed at Iraqi civilians, police recruits and members of Awakening Councils, left at least six people dead in parts of Iraq.
In Kirkuk, a suicide bomber attacked a police academy, killing one person and wounding 15, the authorities said. Saman Ghafour, a police captain who witnessed the attack, said that the bomber appeared to be 12 to 16 years old.

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Suicide bomber kills 16 in Mosul.

Bombs Kill 21 Iraqis, Including Children
December 3, 2008
By KATHERINE ZOEPF and ALISSA J. RUBIN

BAGHDAD — Bombings took the lives of at least 21 Iraqis on Tuesday, including 3 children and 6 adults when an explosive on a horse-drawn cart went off in an attack on a primary school in Mosul.
A day earlier, a suicide bomb killed 16 people in Mosul. The city remains in the grip of an entrenched insurgency that neither the Iraqi Army nor the American military has been able to eradicate.
Suicide bomber detonates explosive belt, killing 15, injuring 35.

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Bomb Attacks Kill at Least 27, Wound Dozens in Iraq

U.S. Military Patrol In Mosul Among Those Targeted
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Zaid Sabah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

In eastern Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt at the back gate of a police academy about 1 p.m. Two minutes later, another bomber exploded a booby-trapped car at the main entrance of a nearby government building, said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, the top spokesman for Iraqi military operations in Baghdad.
In a statement, the U.S. military said 15 policemen were killed and 35 policemen and civilians were injured in the attack. Iraqi authorities said the blasts killed 11 people and injured 34.

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Suicide bomber detonates suicide vest, killing at least 32

Two Bombings Kill at Least 30 Iraqis
New York Times
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: December 1, 2008

BAGHDAD — Suicide bombings in Baghdad and Mosul took the lives of at least 32 Iraqis on Monday in carnage that recalled the levels of violence before the American troop buildup last year.
The Baghdad bombing occurred at a police training academy on the eastern side of the Tigris just as students were leaving their lectures for lunch. As they streamed out the gate, a car dropped off a young man — most witnesses say he looked to be 16 or 17 — who walked into the crowd and detonated his suicide vest, according to witnesses.
Moments later the car he had arrived in, which had been parked down the road, exploded. At least 15 people were killed in the explosions, the Iraqi Interior Ministry reported.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomber killed at least 17 people, mainly civilians, in an attack against a joint American-Iraqi convoy, said an Iraqi security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. The American military reported that nine people were killed in the attack, including the bomber; differing casualty figures immediately after an attack are not uncommon.

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Suicide bomber detonates explosives outside mosque, killing 12, injuring 23

Bombing At Mosque In Iraq Suicide Attack Before Prayers Kills at Least 12
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Saad Sarhan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, November 29, 2008

BAGHDAD, Nov. 28 -- A suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a Shiite mosque south of Baghdad on Friday, police said, killing at least 12 people and injuring 23 a day after Iraqi lawmakers approved a security pact to extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

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Suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt kills 12, injures 19

Bomber Kills 12 at Shiite Mosque Before March Against a New Security Pact
November 29, 2008
By ALISSA J. RUBIN

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up just inside the courtyard of a Shiite mosque in a town south of Baghdad on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding 19, according to witnesses and security officials.
The attack took place in Musayyib, a town about 50 miles south of Baghdad, as about 700 people were attending Friday Prayer and preparing to hold a peaceful march to protest the Iraqi Parliament’s ratification on Thursday of a new security agreement with the United States.

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Female suicide bomber kills 5, injures 12

3 Deadly Blasts Hit Iraq Ahead of Security Pact Vote
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Qais Mizher
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

BAGHDAD, Nov. 24 -- Three bombings targeting Iraqi government employees and the U.S.-fortified Green Zone killed at least 20 people and left scores wounded Monday, two days before the Iraqi parliament is expected to vote on a controversial security agreement with the United States.
The attacks illustrated the vulnerability of Iraq's security apparatus and the lingering defiance of an insurgency whose influence has declined in recent months.

In the second attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up as she waited in line to be searched at an entrance to the Green Zone, killing five people and wounding 12, police said. All of the dead were government employees, witnesses said.

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September 14, 2007
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