Real IRA admits Northern Ireland MI5 base car bomb

The Real IRA has admitted it was behind a car bomb which exploded outside the army base which houses MI5's Northern Ireland headquarters. The blast came on the day that David Ford was elected as NI's Justice Minister, the first local politician to hold the job in 38 years. It happened at about 0020 BST outside Palace Barracks, in Holywood, County Down. Police said no warning was given. The bomb went off as the surrounding area was being evacuated. An elderly man walking near the barracks at the time was treated for minor injuries.

The bomb was placed in a taxi, which had been hijacked in the Ligoniel area of north Belfast, about seven miles from Holywood. The driver was held hostage by three men for about two hours before being told to drive his taxi to the barracks.The vehicle was abandoned at the base just before midnight prompting police and security staff to evacuate the area. The bomb exploded about 20 minutes later as the evacuation was still taking place. There were two explosions - first the bomb and then the petrol tank, destroying the car and damaging other property. Mr Ford, the new justice minister, said the bombing was a cynical attempt to intimidate politicians ahead of Monday's vote.

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Russian-style train bombings could happen in the West

Since 2007, Russia has been subjected to a number of terrorist bombing attacks on railroad lines and trains designed to both kill Russians and spread fear among the population. Most of these attacks have taken place in and near to the capital city, Moscow or St. Petersburg, the second largest city. Specific attacks against targets in Russia have been:

• 3/29/10. Two female suicide bombers attacked two trains on the Moscow metro on 29 March 2010 by detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that were worn on their bodies. Initial reporting indicated that 38 people may have been killed and 102 injured.3 Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the attack.
• 11/27/09. Chechen extremists attacked the high-speed Russian luxury train, Nevsky Express, by detonating an improvised explosive device (IED) placed under the tracks on a rural segment of the line between Moscow and St. Petersburg.16 hours later a secondary device exploded. The Caucasian Mujahedeen later claimed responsibility for the blast.
• 8/13/07. The Nevsky Express was blown up by a homemade bomb in the Novgorod area en-route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Four pounds of explosives derailed the train, wiping out 800 meters of track. Sixty people were reported injured, about half-dozen in critical condition.

Several lessons are there to be learned from the Russian attacks. Analysis of these events has shown that:

• The Improvised Explosive Device still remains the weapon of choice and is very effective. IEDs are easy to assemble and can be made from everyday materials.
• Each attack has been claimed by Islamic extremist/terror group from the North Caucasus Region. Similar groups could be operating in western countries, such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany and France.
• With terrorists across the world copying successful tactics from one location to another, a railroad attack by terrorists in any western country, especially those that have committed resources to combating global terrorism, is a possibility that cannot be ignored.
• Many Western countries have large, open, and sparsely populated regions, similar to Russia; these areas would seem ideal for rural attacks.
• City attacks, such as those that took place in Madrid and London, show that any platform or station can be a target; however, a location is more likely to be attacked if there are clusters of targets in the one area. For example, the suicide bombing at the Lubyanka station was symbolic as it was very close to the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, formerly the KGB. These locations then, need the closest security.
• Suicide attacks are difficult to detect, especially when women are used as the attackers, however close observation of their movements and actions can give them away if interrupted early enough. Signs should be taken seriously and immediate action taken to determine the nature of any possible threat.

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Marriott bomber's live suicide stream

A chilling new bomber's-eye video of the Marriott hotel suicide bombing that killed five people, including three Australians, in Jakarta last year has been released. The images show teenage Marriott bomber Dani Dwi Permana was streaming video back to his handler Syafudin Zuhri up to the moment he confirmed the foreigners were within range and detonated his explosives. Zuhri urges Permana on as the murderous mission begins. As Permana moves through the hotel's lobby, he uses his mobile phone to send a live video stream back to Zuhri's phone. Zuhri uses a video camera to record the images and prays for the success of the mission. "God keep watch over us and keep us close to you," he tells the doomed bomber. Zuhri and the man who allegedly planned the attack, Noordin Mohammad Top, were killed in police raids last year. But the alleged members of the support network are on trial and the prosecutors are trying to show how one was connected to the other and eventually to Zuhri, who recorded the chilling images.

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Jordan makes arrests for failed attack on Israel diplomats

Jordanian authorities have made a number of arrests in connection with Thursday's failed roadside bombing attack on an Israeli diplomatic convoy. Although the attack caused no injuries, the kind of bomb and the intelligence required to make such an attack are raising concerns about security breaches among Jordanian and Israeli authorities. According to Arabic media reports, Jordanian security officials have arrested a cab driver believed to have planted the bomb along the road between Amman and the Jordanian-Israeli border, and several other arrests in connection with the bombing.

One Jordanian official called the attack "a message" to Jordanian authorities and a sign that Jordan's security establishment could be infiltrated. Haaretz's analysis shows the perpetrators had very good intelligence and they knew that many Israeli diplomats, who normally live in Amman without their families, usually depart for Israel for the weekend on Thursday afternoon, and they knew how to identify the two-car convoy. Their analysis also speculates that the parties most likely responsible for the attack are either Hizbullah or Sunni extremists.

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Chechen Rebels Claim Nevsky Express Bombing

Chechen rebels have claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least 26 people traveling on a train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, rebel web site Kavkaz Center said Wednesday. The attack, which derailed the luxury Nevsky Express train Friday night, was part of a broader strategy announced earlier this year by rebel leader Doku Umarov, Kavkaz Center said in a statement attributed to the rebels’ headquarters. Umarov had called to move terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage from the North Caucasus to the rest of Russia.

Most recently, Chechen rebels also claimed responsibility for the disaster that killed 75 workers at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant Aug. 17, but, like in the train bombing, they have failed to produce any proof of their involvement. The rebels pledged to continue attacks on Russian soil but promised to limit civilian casualties. The Chechen rebels were not the first to claim responsibility for the bombing. A radical nationalist group called Combat 18 took credit on a nationalist Internet blog on the day after the attack. Unlike some nationalist groups that claim responsibility for high-profile attacks, Combat 18 actually exists, and its members have been interviewed by the Russian media previously.

• "Who is Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov?", Reuters, 12/2/09.
• "Russia: Bomb Attack on Train", Stratfor, 11/28/09.
  
• "North Caucasus Insurgency Attracting Mainly Young and Committed Members", Jamestown Foundation, 1/15/09.

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17 Die in Kabul Blast

KABUL, Afghanistan — A car packed with explosives blew up beside the Indian Embassy on Thursday morning, leaving 17 people dead in what India’s foreign secretary said was a direct attack on the embassy compound, the second in two years.

The blast appeared to be similar in pattern to the earlier attack, in July 2008, in which a car bomber detonated at the embassy gates around the same time. American intelligence officials concluded within weeks that Pakistan's intelligence agency helped plan that attack.

Pakistan denied any involvement, but, India is Pakistan’s archrival, and militant groups once nurtured by Pakistan’s intelligence service have struck at Indian targets, most recently last year in Mumbai.

A Taliban spokesman claimed credit for the attack and said the embassy was the intended target. That recent history and the long simmering Indian-Pakistan conflict over possession of Kashmir had some Indian security analysts pointing Pakistan's way on Thursday.

Analysis

Whatever the reason, and whoever is behind this. has miscalculated. If this blast was the work of the Taliban alone, it will sting Pakistan into more attacks that are destined to wear the Taliban down and defeat it. If the Pakistani military and intelligence forces helped plan the attack then it will result in further sympathy for India and a stronger reaction from India's allies. The sad thing is that those killed and wounded were local Pakistani's, killed by their own. If this keeps up, the Taliban will find themselves totally isolated within the very community they expect to give it support.

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Police arrest Jakarta blasts suspect

Indonesian police said they have arrested an Indonesian who is suspected of obtaining overseas funding for last month's bomb attack on two hotels in Jakarta, which killed nine people, including Australians. Mohamad Jibril "was suspected of having a role in the overseas funding", police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told reporters. "From who and how, we are still investigating." Security expert Sidney Jones told Reuters Jibril had studied in Pakistan and was a member of a group previously linked to Al Qaeda. He ran the radical magazine Jihadmagz in Indonesia.

Malaysian-born militant Noordin Mohammad Top, who heads a more violent splinter group of the Jemaah Islamiah militant network, is widely thought to have been behind the attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels. Since the bombings, police have arrested at least six people, including Jibril, and three others died during raids. But initial reports they had killed Top during a raid in Central Java proved to be incorrect.

Police are trying to pin down whether the attackers received overseas funding from Al Qaeda. Last week, police said they had arrested a Saudi national suspected of involvement in the fundings of the recent attacks. Media reports quoting police sources said authorities believed couriers may have brought funds for last month's hotel into Indonesia from the Middle East.

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ETA Blamed For Separate Bomb Attacks in Spain

The Basque separatist terror group ETA has been blamed for two separate bombings in Spain in the last 48 hours. If this is true, it is especially startling considering that they have suffered a number of major setbacks in the last few years. Three of their military commanders were arrested by Spanish authorities in an eight month period during 2008, inflicting a major blow on the organization. ETA, which is pronounced "etta," is a leftist group that conducts terrorist attacks to win independence for a Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Fatherland and Liberty” in the Basque language.

Steve Kingstone, BBC News Madrid correspondent, wrote"This attack is a sobering reminder of ETA's potency, to politicians and commentators who had previously portrayed the group as weakened following a series of high-profile arrests. Those arrests certainly dented ETA's leadership structure, but this attack demonstrates that other militants are willing to step into the shoes of those now in jail. And the quantity of explosives used - almost 300kg, according to Spanish reports - makes clear that the group still has the potential to inflict violence on a large scale. The catalyst for this bombing was the exclusion of separatist parties from regional elections in March. ETA branded the vote "undemocratic," and described members of the resulting Socialist administration as a "priority target." The Socialists ended almost three decades of rule by the Basque Nationalist Party, and have promised renewed vigour in tackling the militants."

• "Spain mourns as Eta mark founding", al Jazeera, 7/31/09.
  
• "Travel Chaos After Mallorca Bomb", BBC News, 7/30/09.
  
• "Spanish Barracks Hit By Car Bomb", BBC News, 7/29/09.
• "Basque Fatherland and Liberty", Council for Foreign Relations, 11/17/08.
• "The End of ETA?" Harvard International Review.
  

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