Bomb-Making Network Exposed by U.S. Probe  

Terrorists used same designs to manufacture explosives for attacks on different continents

February 22, 2004
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

U.S. investigators working for a new government forensic unit, have found indications of a global bomb-making network, following a probe into how terrorists manufacture improvised explosives.

The investigators concluded bomb builders used the same designs for explosives in the Mideast, Asia and Africa, according to a report in the New York Times.

''Linkages have been made in devices that have been used in different continents,'' the Times quoted one forensic expert involved in the new intelligence effort as saying. ''We know that we have the same bomb maker, or different bomb makers are using the same instructions.''

Intelligence analysts say they believe al-Qaida has been weakened by the campaign against terrorism and lacks a central command, but the terror network may still be disseminating bomb-making instructions to terrorists who have fanned out around the globe.

The new forensic intelligence unit, called the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, or Tedac, is based at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. The unit began its work in December and lawmakers were told of its existence in recent days, the paper said.

''Tedac is a multiagency effort to analyze improvised explosive devices,'' the report quoted Dwight Adams, director of the FBI laboratory as saying. ''It gathers and shares intelligence related to the construction of these devices. Its purpose is to save lives.''

According to the FBI, which took the lead in the center's creation, almost 90 percent of attacks against Americans over the last five years have involved improvised explosive devices.

Experts at the center have begun to compile a data bank about bombs used by terrorists by examining tiny bits of housings, wirings, fuses, switches and the chemical composition of the explosives. They've also investigated the electronic signatures of remote switching devices often used to detonate the devices, the Times said.

In some cases, experts have been able to obtain evidence of who made the bomb through fingerprints or DNA material left behind, according to the report.

Analysts have also gained a better understanding of the improvised devices by collecting fragments from hundreds of bombs used in attacks in Iraq. They're using the information to provide commanders in Iraq with faster countermeasures to help protect American troops.

Examination of bombs used in Iraq has thus far yielded little about who made them, although intelligence analysts believe followers of al-Qaida or ideologically sympathetic allies may be involved in some of the bombings.

The forensic unit has also expanded on studies of past cases including the thwarted shoe-bomb attack aboard a Paris to Miami flight in December 2001. Richard Reid, a British citizen and al-Qaida sympathizer was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to blow up a passenger jet over the Atlantic Ocean.

In a test, detonation of a similar bomb on a grounded aircraft blew a 2 feet by 2 feet in the fuselage — a potentially catastrophic event aboard a pressurized plane in flight, according to the paper.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37243