Top 10 loser bombers
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Where a few plotters of terror and mayhem succeed, many more fail in spectacular fashion. Here's a list of the standouts.
By Freya Petersen
Published: May 6, 2010 09:27 ET
A police officer in New York's Times Square on May 3, 2010, two days after a thwarted car bombing. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
BOSTON — We begin with a simple truism: All bombers are losers.
Now consider our list of the top-10 "loser bombers" — well, nine of them would-be bombers whose equipment, strategy, conviction or brains failed them when it mattered most, and one (very) amateur Kamikaze pilot.
What all 10 have in common is beyond question — they failed to achieve much more than either getting arrested or getting killed.
This is by no means an attempt to make light of what were, for the most part, premeditated and violent attacks intended to kill, wreck or maim an unspecified number and type of victim. Two of the attacks did, indeed, kill a total of seven people.
Rather it's an reminder that the Times Square scare that has dominated international headlines for the better part of a week is only the latest in a long line of thankfully ill-conceived and poorly executed terrorist acts.
While investigators sort out exactly who's behind it and why, let's take a trip down memory lane:
1. Times Square bomb attack (2010)
United States authorities are still investigating a thwarted car bombing in New York's Times Square, but prosecutors have already charged Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, with five counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the U.S. Shahzad had recently purchased the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder found abandoned in Times Square on May 1 packed with enough fuel, fertilizer and explosives to ignite a massive fireball. An onboard fuse was left lit and smoldering. Investigators are hunting for a man who was caught on tape moments after the SUV was ditched (and subsequently reported to police by a street vendor, unleashing another monster of sorts), but a law enforcement official told the AP on Wednesday that the authorities did not believe there were any other suspects in the plot and that several arrests in Pakistan in the past two days were not related. The authorities have since said that Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired air force officer in Pakistan, admitted rigging the Pathfinder with a crude bomb of firecrackers, propane and alarm clocks based on explosives training he received in Pakistan.
Most popular:
Gangster life: Taiwan's real-life Sopranos
Female sex tourism: for love or money?
Japan: Nothing says springtime like a penis festival
Where a few plotters of terror and mayhem succeed, many more fail in spectacular fashion. Here's a list of the standouts.
By Freya Petersen
Published: May 6, 2010 09:27 ET
A police officer in New York's Times Square on May 3, 2010, two days after a thwarted car bombing. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
BOSTON — We begin with a simple truism: All bombers are losers.
Now consider our list of the top-10 "loser bombers" — well, nine of them would-be bombers whose equipment, strategy, conviction or brains failed them when it mattered most, and one (very) amateur Kamikaze pilot.
What all 10 have in common is beyond question — they failed to achieve much more than either getting arrested or getting killed.
This is by no means an attempt to make light of what were, for the most part, premeditated and violent attacks intended to kill, wreck or maim an unspecified number and type of victim. Two of the attacks did, indeed, kill a total of seven people.
Rather it's an reminder that the Times Square scare that has dominated international headlines for the better part of a week is only the latest in a long line of thankfully ill-conceived and poorly executed terrorist acts.
While investigators sort out exactly who's behind it and why, let's take a trip down memory lane:
1. Times Square bomb attack (2010)
United States authorities are still investigating a thwarted car bombing in New York's Times Square, but prosecutors have already charged Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, with five counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the U.S. Shahzad had recently purchased the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder found abandoned in Times Square on May 1 packed with enough fuel, fertilizer and explosives to ignite a massive fireball. An onboard fuse was left lit and smoldering. Investigators are hunting for a man who was caught on tape moments after the SUV was ditched (and subsequently reported to police by a street vendor, unleashing another monster of sorts), but a law enforcement official told the AP on Wednesday that the authorities did not believe there were any other suspects in the plot and that several arrests in Pakistan in the past two days were not related. The authorities have since said that Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired air force officer in Pakistan, admitted rigging the Pathfinder with a crude bomb of firecrackers, propane and alarm clocks based on explosives training he received in Pakistan.
( Global Post )
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Bomb disrupts N Ireland poll count
2010-05-07 09:28
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Bombing at N Irish cop shop
Belfast - A viable car bomb device was left outside a vote counting centre in Northern Ireland, triggering a security alert and halting the general election count, police said on Friday.A hijacked car was ditched outside the Templemore Leisure Centre in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city, disrupting the counts going on inside.The building was evacuated, with election staff and counters and supporters of the various candidates among those having to leave. The Foyle and East Londonderry constituency counts were being conducted inside.Northern Ireland's security forces had been on high alert for the general election. The province returns 18 lawmakers to the British parliament.Last month they warned that dissident Republicans opposed to the peace process posed the biggest threat to security in the province since the 1998 Omagh bombing, the most deadly attack during the 30 years of The Troubles."The security alert in the Templemore Leisure Centre is ongoing," a police spokeswoman said. "However, ATO (army ammunition technical officer) has examined the vehicle and has declared that it contained a viable device."Roads have been reopened but the car park remains closed and the count continues."Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson, who lost his seat in the British parliament, said: "It is vital that we do not go back to the bad old days of the past though there are those who would seek to drag us there."Even tonight we have seen that there are those who would like to do it by the bomb - and in the election we have seen those who would like to do it through the ballot box."But we will continue to look positively at the future of Northern Ireland."
- AFP
Read more on: northern ireland
Related Links
Bombing at N Irish cop shop
Belfast - A viable car bomb device was left outside a vote counting centre in Northern Ireland, triggering a security alert and halting the general election count, police said on Friday.A hijacked car was ditched outside the Templemore Leisure Centre in Londonderry, Northern Ireland's second city, disrupting the counts going on inside.The building was evacuated, with election staff and counters and supporters of the various candidates among those having to leave. The Foyle and East Londonderry constituency counts were being conducted inside.Northern Ireland's security forces had been on high alert for the general election. The province returns 18 lawmakers to the British parliament.Last month they warned that dissident Republicans opposed to the peace process posed the biggest threat to security in the province since the 1998 Omagh bombing, the most deadly attack during the 30 years of The Troubles."The security alert in the Templemore Leisure Centre is ongoing," a police spokeswoman said. "However, ATO (army ammunition technical officer) has examined the vehicle and has declared that it contained a viable device."Roads have been reopened but the car park remains closed and the count continues."Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson, who lost his seat in the British parliament, said: "It is vital that we do not go back to the bad old days of the past though there are those who would seek to drag us there."Even tonight we have seen that there are those who would like to do it by the bomb - and in the election we have seen those who would like to do it through the ballot box."But we will continue to look positively at the future of Northern Ireland."
- AFP
Read more on: northern ireland
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