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Pressure Cooker Bombs (From 2006)
Notes from the Technology Underground ^

Posted on 04/16/2013 9:47:01 AM PDT by mnehring


Ever notice that even terrorist seem get involved with "fads?" It seems that the latest is a new type of improvised explosive device that is all too common in the area of the Indian subcontinent. The pressure cooker bomb is becoming the terrorist's weapon of preference. Here's something from the New Dehli Newspaper, the Hindu:





Terrorists trained in making pressure cooker bombs

NEW DELHI: Terrorists in camps purportedly operating along the Baluchistan border between Pakistan and Afghanistan are being trained in making and exploding pressure cooker bombs, which were used in the Delhi blasts last year and at least in two explosions in Varanasi this past Tuesday.

During interrogation, Mohammad Ibrahim, who was arrested for his involvement in the Special Task Force office blast in Hyderabad in October last, allegedly disclosed that he along with several others from Hyderabad and Ahmedabad had been sent to the Baluchistan border camp via Bangladesh to undergo training in the handling of explosives, arms and ammunition.

The "course" also included the manufacturing of pressure cooker bombs fitted with clock-timer, similar to the one used in the improvised explosive device defused at Godolia in Varanasi on Tuesday.


If you Google "pressure cooker bomb" you will find there's a huge number of attacks carried out using this type of device. What is it about a pressure cooker that makes it so suitable for this use? Some of the article say that it's because security people often don't check them carefully because they are so common. Really? Are that that many pressure cookers out there crossing Indian and Nepalese border checkpoints that they have become invisible to agents?


I'm pretty sure that the security screeners in the US are clued into this. In fact, The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning a while back about such devices. They issued a guideline in February 2004 about them. According to DHS,

Typically, these bombs are made by placing TNT or other explosives in a pressure
cooker and attaching a blasting cap at the top of the pressure cooker. The size
of the blast depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount of
explosive placed inside. Pressure cooker bombs are made with readily available
materials and can be as simple or as complex as the
builder decides. These types of devices can be initiated using simple electronic components including, but not limited to, digital watches, garage door openers, cell phones or pagers.
As a common cooking utensil, the pressure cooker is often overlooked when
searching vehicles, residences or merchandise crossing the U.S. Borders.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Reference
KEYWORDS: bomb; bostonmarathon; bostonmarathonattack; ied; pressurecooker; pressurecookerbombs; saudinational; terrorism; terroristattack
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Just some information on the type of bomb that was used. This is just the first source I found. There is no indication the source is in any way involved, just a science blog. I checked the author before posting this and he is nothing that would be connected to this, he is an author for Popular Mechanics. (just saying this so there are no speculations down that rabbit hole).
1 posted on 04/16/2013 9:47:01 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: mnehring

Go find...thanks


2 posted on 04/16/2013 9:51:04 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: mnehring

Good find....thanks


3 posted on 04/16/2013 9:51:29 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: mnehring

Watching the vids of the blast, I was put strongly in mind of a cylinder of flammable gas being detonated.

I..uh.. saw a film about that once.

Looks just like that. Calibration gas for example.


4 posted on 04/16/2013 9:52:18 AM PDT by humblegunner
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To: mnehring

Yes pressure cookers are used a lot in other countries, just as they used to be much more common here in the US.


5 posted on 04/16/2013 9:54:41 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: mnehring
These types of devices can be initiated using simple electronic components including, but not limited to, digital watches, garage door openers, cell phones or pagers.

As a common cooking utensil, the pressure cooker is often overlooked when searching vehicles, residences or merchandise crossing the U.S. Borders.

Interesting.

6 posted on 04/16/2013 9:56:00 AM PDT by Jane Long (Background checks? Dandy idea, Mr. President. Shoulda started with yours. - Sarah Palin)
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To: mnehring

Hm, I wonder if, with the regulatimania that grips the FedGov, they’ll ban (or require special licenses) for pressure-cookers... it’d have the benefit of being “for safety” while damaging the industrious citizen w/ a mindset for preparation/saving.


7 posted on 04/16/2013 9:56:41 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: mnehring
The FARC have used this before.

The Maoist in India have a habit of leaving this behind next to the train tracks.

Of note in the US:

Foiled Fort Hood Terrorist Was Making a Bomb from a Pressure Cooker

8 posted on 04/16/2013 9:58:13 AM PDT by Theoria
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To: mnehring

Fox News is reporting a pressure cooker may have benn used in the Boston bombing.


9 posted on 04/16/2013 9:58:20 AM PDT by Perseverando (Gun control? It's really not about gun control is it? It's really about PEOPLE CONTROL!)
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To: driftdiver

I use my pressure cooker to cook red beans very often. Guess they will come for my pressure cooker too. /sarcasm


10 posted on 04/16/2013 9:58:26 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
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To: humblegunner
The amount of white smoke it produced made me think it was a device made using black powder and possibly powdered aluminum.
11 posted on 04/16/2013 10:01:38 AM PDT by MCF
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To: Texas Fossil

....from your dead, red stained and sticky hands!......


12 posted on 04/16/2013 10:14:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: Red Badger

hee hee hee

guess so.


13 posted on 04/16/2013 10:35:29 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
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To: mnehring; a fool in paradise; Slings and Arrows
Pressure Drop!
14 posted on 04/16/2013 10:38:04 AM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: mnehring

I used to use a pressure cooker connected to a vacuum and on a hot plate to ‘pot’ (impregnate) transformers.


15 posted on 04/16/2013 11:05:56 AM PDT by Bon mots (Abu Ghraib: 47 Times on the front page of the NY Times | Benghazi: 2 Times)
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To: mnehring

I am surprised that the walls of pressure cookers would break open before the lid came came off. It would seem to me to be a basic safety design issue.


16 posted on 04/16/2013 11:08:14 AM PDT by buffaloguy
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To: mnehring

It does seem so utterly stupid that the federal government is spending so much time and money on taking our guns, when pots and pans killed people.

Where there is a will to kill people, there is a way.


17 posted on 04/16/2013 11:13:22 AM PDT by Truth2012
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To: FReepers

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

18 posted on 04/16/2013 11:20:23 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (My faith and politics cannot be separated)
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To: Texas Fossil

“I use my pressure cooker to cook red beans very often. Guess they will come for my pressure cooker too”


If Cuomo and his mafia gets their way you will have to register that if you live in NYS.


19 posted on 04/16/2013 11:27:38 AM PDT by Wurlitzer (Nothing says "ignorance" like Islam!)
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To: mnehring

All I know is that a pressure cooker can turn a chuck roast into an incredible feast.


20 posted on 04/16/2013 11:27:49 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (People are idiots.)
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