ANFO I.

This is coolbert:

For terrorists, the ammonium nitrate fuel oil [ANFO] bomb seems to be the weapon of choice for the "grand event".

A detonation of catastrophic proportions. To destroy a target of great importance.

ANFO bombs allow a bunch of relatively untrained and unsophisticated terrorists an ability that was once solely the perogative of a few major militaries. ONLY a military of a major nation-state at one time had explosives of the caliber and size of an ANFO bomb. NO longer. Even the lone wolf terrorist such as Tim McVeigh can build such bombs and use them with great effectiveness.

Among the villains that have used ANFO bombs are:

1. The IRA.

First the Baltic Exchange bomb of 1992:

"The Baltic Exchange bomb of 1992 was the first large fertiliser based device to be exploded in England; the bomb’s power had been enhanced by Semtex-based detonating cord being wrapped around explosives . . . the Baltic Exchange bomb had been mixed in a shed in South Armagh by 'The Surgeon.' The bomb killed three people and resulted in an insurance layout of £350 million."

A second such ANFO bomb a year later:

"1993: IRA bomb devastates City of London

A massive bomb has ripped through the heart of the City of London, killing one and injuring more than 40.

The explosion shook buildings and shattered hundreds of windows, sending glass showering down into the streets below. A mediaeval church, St Ethelburga's, collapsed; another church and Liverpool Street underground station were also wrecked.

The cost of repairing the damage has been estimated at more than £1bn."

Estimated damage from the second bomb was 1 billion pounds. A heck of a lot of damage.

Both of those ANFE IRA bombs were about 1 ton of ammonium nitrate delivered in a lorry [truck].

2. Jihadi terrorists in NYC prior to 9/11 [the first WTC attack of 1993]:

"The World Trade Center attack on February 26 was organized by master al-Qaeda bomb-maker Ramzi Yousef working with a Kuwaiti engineer named Nidal Ayyad and immigrant members of the Egyptian group, Gama'a al-Islamiyya, headed by Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman . . . Yousef's weapon was a Ryder van packed with an ingenious upgrade of the classic IRA and Hezbollah ANFO explosive.

"The bomb itself," . . . "consisted of four cardboard boxes filled with a slurry of urea nitrate and fuel oil, with waste paper as a binder. The boxes were surrounded by four-foot tanks of compressed hydrogen. They were connected by four 20-foot-long slow-burning fuses of smokeless powder wrapped in fabric. Yousef balanced on his lap four vials of nitroglycerine." . . . the massive explosive proved too small -- excavating a four-story deep crater in the basement, killing 6 and injuring 1,000 people, but failing to bring the tower down."

[the jihadis from the first WTC attack were caught while ACTUALLY MIXING A SLURRY OF AMMONIUM NITRATE AND FUEL OIL, intending further attacks upon the U.N. building, the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, using ANFO bombs of tremendous proportions, causing just enormous and monumental loss of life.]

3. And Tim McVeigh of course:

"McVeigh carefully followed Pierce's simple recipe in the novel (several tons of ammonium nitrate in a parked truck) rather than Yousef's more complicated WTC formula, although he did substitute nitro racing fuel and diesel oil for ordinary heating oil. Nonetheless . . . the explosion was three times more powerful than any of the truck-bomb detonations that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and other federal agencies had been studying at their test range in New Mexico. Experts were amazed at the radius of destruction: "Equivalent to 4,100 pounds of dynamite, the blast damaged 312 buildings, cracked glass as far as two miles away and inflicted 80 percent of its injuries on people outside the building up to a half-mile away." Distant seismographs recorded it as a 6.0 earthquake on the Richter scale."

ONE CANNOT OVERESTIMATE THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCE OF SUCH WEAPONS. THESE ANFO DEVICES ARE THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS IN THE WORLD PERIOD. ONLY ATOMIC WEAPONRY CREATES A BIGGER BANG!!!

It is likely that the captured terrorist wannabees in Canada did want to make and set up ANFO bombs. CSIS, the Canadian intelligence service, seems to be a main target. Also mentioned as possible targets were the CNN tower, and the Prime Ministers office in Toronto. The grand event. These guys go for broke the first time. No penny-ante for them!!

IT IS REPUTED THAT THE CANADIAN GROUP OF SUSPECTED TERRORISTS HAD TWICE AS MUCH AMMONIUM NITRATE AS DID MCVEIGH!! THEY HAD THE IDEA TO MAKE ONE HECK OF A BANG!!

It should not be thought that the persons who mix and assemble the bombs are rank amateurs. These weapons are put together with industrial methods and mechanization. The IRA warehouse where they made and constructed the bombs was set up along industrial lines. Conveyors, fork lifts, etc. All to expedite the process.

It is more than likely that a terrorist cell has a lot of supporters that are legal civilians NOT engaging in the actual terror event itself. A support mechanism that facilitates and enables the evil deed.

Such support would be needed when putting together enormous ANFO bombs.

You have legal businessmen that work with the terrorists. Sympathizers that have reasonable and plausible reasons for purchasing the materials used to make an ANFO bomb. You might have:

* One man who rents a warehouse.

* A second man who buys the ammonium nitrate.

* A third man who buys the fuel oil.

* A fourth man who buys conveyors, industrial mixers, fork lifts, etc.

* A fifth man who buys the truck destined to carry the bomb.

* A sixth man who staffs the warehouse with phones, faxes, a skeletal work force, etc. To give the appearance that the warehouse is indeed a legitimate business.

The movement of equipment, the arrival of supplies, the presence of "workmen" all seems to be plausible. "This is a business making something", goes the thinking from the neighbors.

Such is the way of the modern terrorist and the capability accorded the villain by the use of ANFO bombs.

This stuff is very deadly and very simple both at the same time. A potent and dangerous mix!!!

coolbert.