Failed London bombings may provide vital forensics

[Caution]

A series of failed bomb attacks on three underground tube trains and one bus could provide vital clues for investigators trying to tackle the terrorist threat facing London.

The unsuccessful attacks came two weeks after bomb blasts killed 56 people in the UK capital, on 7 July. On Thursday 21 July, three tube trains and one bus were targeted in the north, south, east and west, but this time all four bombs failed to detonate and no one was killed.

On Friday, police investigators released CCTV images of four men wanted for questioning in connection with Thursday’s events. They also raided several properties across London. As well as collecting forensic evidence, police conducted hundreds of interviews and called on members of the public to come forward with camera-phone images.

A day after the incidents, investigators also shot dead a man on an underground train at Stockwell underground station in south London. Officials said the man was challenged by plain-clothes police, at 1000 BST, and failed to halt. The shooting was described as “directly linked” to the ongoing anti-terrorist operation.

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http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7713

[gman16]

1. I say

Look across the pond, towards the DC area. There you will find those who benefited most. As long as Blair considerer's the Bush administration as a friend, he will be placing the people he should be protecting in jeopardy.

[Caution]

2. What does this have to do with forensics?

This forum is not related to policy, instead this article was posted because it centers on the science of forensics. Are you implying that the bombings were perpetrated by Bush and Co. and that the forensics will lead there? Or are you making a statement regarding policy, ie, "Blair's policies regarding the so-called war on terror have created an atmosphere where terrorists are striking in London" If the former then please provide some form of forensic evidence, if the latter that point is more properly discussed in one of the political forums rather than the science forum.

[beam me up scottie]

3. Interesting.

The would-be bombers may have used triacetone triperoxide (TATP) - an extremely volatile explosive material found at a house searched the north of the UK following the attacks on 7 July. The white crystalline powder can be fabricated using common chemical materials and is used by Palestinian suicide bombers. It was also used by the British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid - he, too, failed to explode his bomb.

Triacetone triperoxide is very sensitive to heat, friction and shock and can easily explode without a detonator charge. But it is also prone to deterioration – changing structurally so that the shock wave of the blast created cannot travel properly - and Sella says this may be why the four bombs did not go off on Thursday. Sella adds that police will be looking into ways of detecting this material, perhaps retraining their sniffer dogs, in light of the recent attacks.