Posted on 01/28/2011 3:06:06 AM PST by vertolet888
A suicide bomber planning an attack in Moscow on New Year's Eve was killed in her apartment when her bomb was prematurely detonated by an unexpected text message [from a mobile operator].
According to Russian security sources, the text message -- a remote trigger for a cell phone belt bomb -- wished her a happy new year, accidentally setting off the blast. The accident may have saved hundreds of lives, these officials believe, as the woman intended to use the bomb in a suicide attack near Red Square later that night.
The woman is believed to be part of the same group that struck Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Monday, killing at least 35 people and wounding another 100. Officials haven't directly said who they believe is behind the terrorist attacks, but anonymous sources have pointed to Islamic North Caucasus rebels, which have been in conflict with the Russian state for over a decade.
Cell phones have become a remote detonator of choice for terrorist groups the world over. Explosions can be triggered from a distance by calling or texting the number of the phone used in the bomb. Roadside bombs, many set off by cell phones, have been responsible for 619 U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan and 5,764 injuries since the 2001 invasion began.
Pentagon efforts to combat the threat, including cellular jammers, did not prevent a 60 percent increase in deaths in 2010 over the year before.
You gotta love the “work accidents”...
it’s really good with velveeta
Maybe the US military should rethink it’s position on secrecy. Rather than attempting to conceal its location and travel intentions, it could tweet and text-message all the locals wherever it goes. Boom!! “Oh, we’re sorry, we just wanted to keep you informed what we were doing in your area. Sorry to have detonated you.”
Ooopsie. I love good endings.
Texting has nothing to do with it. Calling the number is what sets it off.
Anything that sends a signal to the speaker/ringer on the phone will trigger something that’s attached to it. Some phones can be set to make a special sound when getting a text message. The bomb, of course, does not care whether it was a text message or an incoming call that caused the phone to sound.
So, the lesson is.............
regularly txt your Muslim buddies.
How do they know all this? The cell phone detonation device survived the blast?
This is a lot like the old joke about a news story about a man who died in his sleep because he dreamed of being chased by monsters and he ran too fast in his dreams and had a heart attack.
I hate when that happens!
The ring tone sets it off which can be from text message or a call.
A text message leaves a pretty indelible footprint, unlike a dream, which is an abstraction living only in the mind of the dreamer.
An alternative would be to have the local cell phone company disable all the towers that cover a route. Failing that they could have the company sent a message to every phone along the route just prior to their arrival. They could also blanket the local area with a jamming signal.
Resourceful terrorists would have the Iranians supply them with bombs that only explode on receipt of a coded message, using one time codes. They could also denonate on jam, prehaps using a programmed time delay after the jamming begins or as soon as the jamming begins to fade (basically detecting the closest approach of the jammer. The countercountermeasure would be to jam with an amplitude modulated signal. )
Pre-mature jihadulation...
I don’t buy it either. Why would a suicide bomber use a (remotely-triggered) cellphone detonating device?
Nothing like starting the New Year off with a bang.
That’ll shut her up!
LMAO, thanks!
==The cell phone detonation device survived the blast?==
It looks so. The whole device or quite big pieces.
Some sources write that of several terrorists in the house only one was killed while others left and were later caught by police.
So the blast was not very strong.
Grani
‘MK’: Large terror attack at Manege Square prevented by cell phone Spam
On New Year’s Eve there could have been a large terrorist attack in Russia - a suicide bomber had been about to bring an explosive device to Moscow’s Manege Square. This was reported in ‘Moskovsky Komsomolets’, citing sources in the security services. According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, the terrorists were foiled in their plans by an accident: the blast took place a few hours early in a shooting club in Kuzminki because the bomber’s mobile phone received a text message – Season’s Greetings from the cell phone company. The blast killed the suicide bomber, and her accomplices fled the scene.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Was Moscow saved from disaster by a text message?
‘MK’ was in the terrorists’ lair to find out why the New Year’s Eve attack failed
A terrorist attack on Moscow had been planned since the beginning of November, security service sources told ‘MK’. A blast was planned for the night of December 31st-January 1st, at the scene of the most popular New Year’s Eve celebrations, but the blast took place early, within a few hours of the festive midnight. According to one theory it was by shear luck: Spam – A Happy New Year greeting from the phone company - was sent to the suicide bomber’s cell phone. The blast killed the suicide bomber, and her accomplices fled the scene. Afterwards they planned (and implemented) an attack on Domodedovo. ‘MK’ visited the house where the security services supposed the terrorists had gone into hiding.
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