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This morning police in Washington D.C. arrested Yonathan Melaku, a Muslim, for suspicious activity near Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon. The twenty-two-year-old Melaku is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Ethiopia that also serves in the Marine Corp Reserves. He was found carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer and other materials making reference to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The first reports I saw came from the Drudge Report and neither made reference to Malaku’s religion. Then I remembered the stories about Asan Akbar who killed two members of his platoon and wounded fifteen more and Hasan Nidal who killed thirteen...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/louisville/press-releases/2011/iraqi-national-pleads-guilty-to-23-count-terrorism-indictment-in-kentucky Iraqi National Pleads Guilty to 23-Count Terrorism Indictment in Kentucky Defendant Participated in Numerous Efforts to Kill U.S. Troops in Iraq with IEDs U.S. Department of Justice December 16, 2011 Office of Public Affairs BOWLING GREEN, KY—Iraqi citizen Waad Ramadan Alwan pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges today in U.S. District Court before Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell, announced Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; David J. Hale, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky; and Elizabeth A. Fries, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Louisville Division. Alwan,...

Please pray for a Lance Corporal stationed in Afghanistan. He stepped on an IED today. The email I just now received is that he is "on the bird and is stable." Thank you for holding him before Our Father's throne in this fight against evil.

SNIPPET: "ZAMBOANGA CITY (2nd update, 1:56 p.m.) -- A powerful blast killed at least 3 people and wounded 27 others in a budget hotel packed with wedding guests in the southern Philippines, officials said Monday. The explosion, suspected to have been caused by a bomb, ignited a fire that gutted the two-story Atilano Pension House in downtown Zamboanga city late Sunday." SNIPPET: "Zamboanga city, a predominantly Christian trading hub 540 miles (860 kilometers) south of Manila, is located in a volatile region long troubled by a decades-long Muslim insurgency, extortion gangs and kidnap for ransom syndicates."

10 October 2011 Afghanistan The choice is yours. If blood and guts are too much, the video at the end of this dispatch is not for you. Do not click the button if your stomach is too weak for war. Unless you are a paramedic or work in a trauma center, THE VIDEO IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

SNIPPET: "A seventh man, aged 20, was arrested on Thursday and continues to be questioned." SNIPPET: "Irfan Nasser, 30, from Sparkhill, and Irfan Khalid, 26, from Sparkbrook, are accused of travelling to Pakistan for terrorism training, including bomb making, and weapons and poison making; as well making a martyrdom video and planning a bombing campaign. Ashik Ali, 26, from Balsall Heath, and Rahi Ahmed, 25, from Moseley, face charges related to planning a bombing campaign in the UK, including constructing a home-made explosive device for terrorist acts and stating an intention to be suicide bombers. Two other suspects - Bahader...

For soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most dangerous threat comes not in the form of a bullet, but a bomb. According to NATO, improvised explosive devices (IEDs for short) account for over half of all deaths among coalition soldiers. Now, researchers have developed an advanced new bomb detection technique that uses lasers no more powerful than your typical presentation pointer to detect and identify bombs like IEDs from tens, if not hundreds, of feet away. The technology was developed by a team of researchers at Michigan State University led by chemist Marcos Dantus. "The laser and the method we've...

In this clip Rod, a high-threat IED disposal operator, and his team deal with a device that has been discovered by some of the searchers. From a new BBC documentary telling the story of the counter-IED team based in Helmand, includes headcam footage filmed by both the "searchers", who find the devices, and by the bomb disposal operators themselves.

Mail it, he said. No, the Army said. We're coming out. So last weekend, the 82nd Airborne Division sent a colonel and his entourage from Fort Bragg, N.C., to find Matt Blain. And give him something rare. "In my 27 years in uniform service, this is the first time I've seen this presentation," 4th Brigade Combat Team Col. Brian Mennes says. "That's how significant it is." With that, the 82nd Airborne colonel explains his visit to a houseful of Blain's family and friends.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police in southern California have arrested 60 people and broken up an Iraqi criminal ring accused of selling drugs, machine guns and improvised bombs out of an immigrant social club, authorities said on Thursday. The swoop by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local police targeted a network operating out of El Cajon, which is near San Diego and close to the border with Mexico.

Magen David Adom (MDA) has declared a mass casualty event and the State of Israel has moved to its highest security alert nationwide as hospitals report that five are dead following terror attacks that struck the country's southern region midday Thursday.

Oklahoma bomb teams removed what is believed to be an Improvised Explosive Device from a gas line in Okfuskee, a small town about 30 miles east of Oklahoma City, authorities said.

Australian police say an elaborate hoax in which a fake bomb was attached to a teenager was an attempt at extortion. Madeleine Pulver, 18, was at home in Sydney when an intruder apparently entered and placed a suspected explosive device round her neck. Police took 10 hours to remove the device, evacuating nearby streets in the wealthy suburb of Mosman. They said the intruder left behind a note attached to the device that confirmed the motive was extortion. The offender had had previous contact with Ms Pulver and was wearing some sort of disguise, they said. No prime suspect New...

A giant spinning metal rototiller shreds bombs without flinching. The Digger D-3 is the most recent addition to my own personal list of robots not to stand in front of. It's a mine-clearing robot, and not the sort of mine-clearing robot that pokes around with a metal detector. Instead, it's the sort of mine-clearing robot that just sucks it up and tells the landmines to bring it. At the front of the D-3 is a giant spinning metal pulverizer-thing-of-death, which has tungsten hammers that beat down almost a foot into the ground, turning everything they touch into mulch. This includes...

BAGHDAD -- A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers Thursday outside the main American military base in Baghdad in what U.S. officials said appeared to be another attack by Shiite militias hoping to drive U.S. troops out of Iraq. The attack follows the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq in two years. Fifteen U.S. soldiers died in June, nearly all in attacks by Shiite militias. ----- Thursday's bomb, which was detonated near a checkpoint outside Victory Base Camp, was a powerful armor-piercing explosive known as an EFP, according to two military officials with knowledge of the attack. EFPs typically...

Improvised rocket assisted munitions made in Tehran, favored by the Iranian trained Shia militias in Iraq, are placed on the back of flatbed trucks. Their target: U.S. military personnel and their bases in Iraq as the remaining U.S. forces prepare to leave the nation by the end of December. Fifteen Americans were killed in June, the deadliest month for U.S. personnel serving in Iraq in more than two years. And some say Iranian influence is showing up more and more in attacks on troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. -video at link also-

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (June 8, 2011) – A local Afghan child reported the location of an improvised explosive device to U.S. Special Operations Forces in the Khakrez district, June 6. Afghan forces were tasked with finding and clearing the IED. They identified one device which contained more than 40 pounds of homemade explosives. “With the recent civilian casualties resulting from insurgent IEDs in the province and the improvements in the flow of information to the Afghan public, it’s not surprising that more and more Afghans are reporting the locations of these IEDs,” said an officer from Special Operations Task Force-South. According...

A young man in my circle of acquaintance was very badly wounded in Afghanistan on Sunday. Apparently there was considerable internal damage in addition to the loss of his legs, and it is unclear whether he can survive the necessary surgery. Will you please agree with me in prayer and lift this Marine and his family up? Thank you.

KABUL — A bomb attack killed four foreign soldiers from NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the military said. "Four International Security Assistance Force service members died following an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan today," a statement said. ISAF does not give details of the nationalities of dead soldiers or how fatal incidents happen, leaving that to officials from the relevant country. Of the 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan trying to reverse a nearly 10-year Taliban insurgency, 90,000 come from the United States. The deaths bring to 224 the number of international...

KABUL, Afghanistan – A U.S. official says that Seven NATO service members killed in explosion in southern Afghanistan were Americans. NATO said in a statement that all seven died in a roadside bomb explosion Thursday. The coalition did not release further details. Tens of thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces have been working for months to rout the Taliban from their strongholds in the south.

SNIPPET: "CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) – Chester police are urging vigilance after they found an improvised explosive device, this afternoon, near Amtrak and Septa railroad tracks and the Commodore Barry Bridge. 

 Police say the device consisted of two bottles with a yellow liquid inside. They say one had a timer and wires attached by duct tape."

On Sunday afternoon, a motorist spotted a suspicious device along U.S. Expressway 77/83 in Brownsville and reported it to police. The device turned out to be an improvised explosive device. The expressway was shut down for about three hours Sunday, as the bomb squad “rendered the device safe," Brownsville police spokesman Eddie Garcia said. It is still unknown exactly how the explosive device ended up on the roadway, but IEDs are sometimes used by the drug cartels in their ongoing war. Of course, drug gangs are battling one another just across the border in Matamoros. According to an April 13th...

Police say a passerby on the southbound side of Highway 77 noticed what looked like a grenade near the FM 1732 overpass and alerted authorities around 5 p.m. Sunday.

As the US prepares to begin handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan military and police in July 2011, the nation described as the graveyard of empires is anything but pacified. A string of bloody attacks, infiltration of the Afghan military by sleeper cells, and diplomatic tensions between Karzai and the US continue to put a question mark over the US led coalition’s plan to gradually leave the region by 2014. The past week was among the bloodiest in the history of the war. 5 US soldiers were killed in their base when a suicide bomber detonated in a crowded...

In February 2006, with roadside bombs killing more and more American soldiers in Iraq, the Pentagon created an agency to defeat the deadly threat and tasked a retired four-star general to run it. Five years later, the agency has ballooned into a 1,900-employee behemoth and has spent nearly $17 billion on hundreds of initiatives. Yet the technologies it has developed have failed to significantly improve U.S. soldiers’ ability to detect unexploded roadside bombs and have never been able to find them at long distances. Indeed, the best detectors remain the low-tech methods: trained dogs, local handlers and soldiers themselves. A...

IED stands for Improvised Explosive Device. I knew them as "Roadside bombs" when I served in the IDF. Then as now, IEDs are cowardly yet effective terrorist tools. You often hear or read about IED in the news in the context of an attack against our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Unfortunately, these attacks are often successful and inflict damage to men and equipment. People often don't understand what an IED is and why they are so effective. IEDs are typically low tech explosive bundles. They contain an explosive charge and, at times, they are enhanced with nails or shotgun...

A soldier who had been stationed at Fort Knox for 16 months died Sunday from injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. U.S. Army Sgt. Kristopher James Gould, 25, of Saginaw, Mich., was an infantryman assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Duke. He is the first soldier from Task Force Duke to be killed during this deployment. Gould began military service in March 2003 and arrived at Fort Knox in October 2009. This was Gould’s third deployment, having served...

British forces in Afghanistan can now track Taliban fighters with revolutionary facial recognition technology harnessed to images beamed to the ground by giant spy-in-the-sky barrage balloons floating at 2,000ft.... Another hi-tech weapon being introduced is the Raptor pod fitted to RAF Tornado fighter jets. Raptors can detect even minute changes to the undergrowth, earth and rocks disturbed by insurgents as they lay roadside bombs. (ANI)

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, a citizen of Saudi Arabia and resident of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested late yesterday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device (IED) and his research of potential U.S. targets. The arrest and the criminal complaint, which was unsealed in the Northern District of Texas, were announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; James T. Jacks, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas; and Robert...

Banner only. Fox Radio says President George W. Bush might have been the target.

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 10, 2011) – One Afghan civilian and two Afghan National Police were killed following a vehicle borne improvised explosive device attack in Spin Boldak district, Kandahar province today. Afghan National Security and International Security Assistance Forces responded to the scene of the blast to look into the incident. “This is the second insurgent act of terror in Spin Boldak district over the past three days,” said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Torres, ISAF Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center director. “As insurgents deliberately conduct attacks against Afghan National Security Forces as well as the Afghan population, they show...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 7, 2011) – Afghan and coalition forces detained a Taliban leader during a security operation in Zabul province yesterday. The Taliban leader is an improvised explosive device emplacer operating in Qalat district. He is responsible for emplacing explosive devices specifically targeting coalition-force vehicles in the district. Recent reporting indicates he wanted a video tape of suicide bombings in order to plan future suicide attacks against coalition forces. Security forces followed leads to a targeted location in the district, where Afghan forces called for all occupants to exit out of the buildings peacefully before conducting a search. The...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 7, 2011) — Afghan and coalition forces targeted a Taliban leader for Khash Rod district, detaining numerous suspected insurgents during a security operation in Nimroz province yesterday. The targeted Taliban leader is responsible for the distribution and use of improvised explosive devices in the northern region of the province. The Taliban leader and his subordinate insurgent fighters utilize early warning networks to identify coalition and Afghan National Security Force movements to conduct IED attacks on targets of opportunity. A joint security force followed intelligence reports to the targeted compound in the district. Afghan forces called for all...

HANOVER, Md. - Sources tell ABC2News.com that several people have been injured after an explosion at the Maryland Department of Transportation Headquarters in Anne Arundel County. Sources also say it may have been an improvised explosive device. It happened just after 1pm Thursday afternoon. ABC2 News reporter, Don Harrison, is at the scene where fire crews are treating those who were hurt. Hazardous Materials units are also at the scene along with K-9 units. Authorities are working to set up a mobile command Authorities have not released any more information. Stay with abc2news.com for updates.

DEVELOPING: Authorities have found what appear to be "improvised explosives" and materials to make homemade bombs at a home in Connecticut. [Snip] Police and FBI agents are at the scene Thursday and authorities are waiting for a judge to sign a search warrant application.

BREAKING: 2 UPS Planes Isolated At Philadelphia International Airport October 29, 2010 9:56 AM From Jessica McWilliams PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Authorities have isolated two cargo planes are Philadelphia International Airport following a report of a suspicious package. Local and federal authorities are investigating a suspicious package aboard a cargo plane that landed at Philadelphia International Airport at about 9 a.m. Friday. A second UPS plane was isolated near the UPS terminal before take off. Authorities say a crew member aboard an inbound UPS plane from Paris, France notified authorities on approach about a suspicious package. The crew member described a...

The raucous blast propelled Joey Jones skyward to the heavens. When his battered body landed on the arid Afghanistan soil, he wondered if he would soon be in heaven. Seconds earlier Jones, a Marine Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician and Dawnville native, stepped on a homemade bomb. That instant forever changed his life. His legs were gone. His arms were maimed. His right hand was hanging by its skin. Bleeding profusely with tourniquets on seemingly every part of his body, he turned to God. “I asked another Marine to pray with me,” Jones said last week recalling the events during...

A roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed four US soldiers, Nato said. AFP quoted spokesman James Judge as saying that a home-made bomb, one of the main weapons of the Taliban, was used in the attack. The attack comes a day after seven US soldiers were killed in two bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan. The deaths add to the rising trend of casualties for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). June and July were the worst months for foreign troop deaths since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Nearly 50 Americans have died in August alone....

Car bombs explode near Mexico TV station, transit office A burned vehicle lies in front of Televisa TV network after a car bomb explosion Friday in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico. Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- At least two car bombs exploded Friday near the television studios of Televisa in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico, the station and the government-run news service reported. One blast occurred outside the TV station while the second happened next to the municipal transit service offices, said the state-run Notimex news agency.

OTTAWA — The RCMP dismantled an alleged Ottawa terrorist cell with suspected links to al-Qaeda on Wednesday morning, making two arrests in the nation’s capital without incident. The men are suspected of preparing a terrorist attack targeting Canada. The ringleader allegedly attended training camps in the Pakistan and Afghanistan region. But the bomb plot was described as not well defined and the arrests were apparently made on Wednesday because one of the suspects was preparing to travel abroad. A news conference has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The RCMP, Ottawa Police Service and Canadian Security Intelligence Service were involved in...

(Only Weeks Away From Coming Home) Staff Sgt. Derek Farley lived an action-packed life, and loved every minute of it. "He was someone who could see a situation and know he could handle it. He could see his way through it," said his father Kenneth Farley, 53. "He loved to make things go bang." At age 17, Derek Farley already had made up his mind about his future, telling his parents that he had contacted a military recruiter who would speak to them about his choice. According to his father, the motivation was the feeling of camaraderie with other soldiers...

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.Cpl. Christopher J. Boyd, 22, of Palatine, Ill., died Aug. 19 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, IMarine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Iran is making IED's that are killing our Soldiers along with funneling money to terrorists who are killing them. When are we going to do something about it!!!

KABUL - An Afghan and coalition security force destroyed a house-borne improvised explosive device and killed several insurgents in Kandahar province in an on-going deliberate clearing operation aimed at disrupting the Taliban's freedom of movement in Zharay District. During the search of one of the compounds, the assault force discovered a house-borne IED in one of the buildings. After clearing the entire compound to ensure no civilians were present, coalition forces called in a precision air strike to destroy the building.

SOUTHERN SHORSURAK, HELMAND PROVINCE, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan — Cpl. Matt Garst should be dead. Few people survive stepping on an improvised explosive device. Even fewer walk away the same day after directly absorbing the force of the blast, but Garst did just that. A squad leader with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Garst was leading his squad on a patrol in Southern Shorsurak, Afghanistan, June 23 to establish a vehicle checkpoint in support of Operation New Dawn. The men were four miles from Company L's newly established observation post when they approached an abandoned compound close to where they...

SNIPPET: "The Department of Defense announced the transfer of two Guantanamo detainees today. Abdul Aziz Naji, a native of Algeria, was repatriated to his home country. Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani, a Syrian, was resettled in Cape Verde, an island republic approximately 300 miles off the west coast of Africa." SNIPPET: "US military officials at Gitmo alleged that Abdul Aziz Naji (whose internment serial number at Gitmo was 744) was a member of Laskar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistani-based terrorist organization closely linked to al Qaeda. A senior intelligence official contacted by the Long War Journal explained that not only was Naji a member...

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

SNIPPET: "U.S. counterterrorism officials have linked one of the nation's most wanted terrorists to last year's thwarted plot to bomb the New York City subway system, authorities said Wednesday. Current and former counterterrorism officials said top al-Qaida operative Adnan Shukrijumah met with one of the would-be suicide bombers in a plot that Attorney General Eric Holder called one of the most dangerous since the 9/11 terror attacks."

With a new commander in Afghanistan, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) sees a new opportunity for tackling the growing problem of improvised explosive device attacks there. Hunter, a former Marine, lays blame on Gen. Stanley McChrystal for altering the brand of counterinsurgency fought in Iraq in ways that have allowed the number of IED attacks to flourish in Afghanistan. Casualties there peaked last month; at least 100 coalition forces died, according to news reports. And IEDs remain the No. 1 threat to U.S. troops. For quite some time, Hunter has been trying to make sure the military replicates the success of...

Last week the Pentagon revealed the existence of a new weapon in the war against roadside bombs: a beam of radio-frequency energy that can detonate hidden Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at a distance. And its creators say the potential does not stop there—the beam could be also used to set off other types of warheads before they reached their target. In theory it might be used to set off ammunition before the enemy even has a chance to fire. "The capabilities are not limited to improvised devices," Lee Mastroianni, program manager at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), told Popular...