It’s now admitted the C-4 was imported; instead of whole grenades being used as detonators, we are now hearing of ‘grenade firing mechanisms’; the only reason to pack a bomb into a radio is to camouflage it, but these bombs needed no camouflage – RB
Photos Show Alleged Iran Bombs Hidden in $27 Radio
Richard Esposito, Brian Ross, ABC News, Feb 21 2012
An alleged Iranian hit squad used $27 portable radios to hide at least five bombs that Israeli and US authorities say they intended to use against Israeli targets in Bangkok, Thailand. Exclusive photos of one undetonated bomb, obtained by ABC News, show the inside of the radio packed with tiny ball bearings and six magnets. Bomb experts say the magnets indicate the bomb was designed to be stuck to the side of a vehicle. A surveillance photo of one of the alleged hit squad members, identified as an Iranian national named Saeid Moradi, shows him holding a radio in each hand. According to authorities, a bomb exploded in the Bangkok house where Moradi and two other Iranians had been staying. After the blast, Moradi attempted to hail a cab. When the driver refused to pick him up, he allegedly threw a bomb, injuring four bystanders. When police approached, Moradi allegedly threw another bomb, but lost both of his legs when it bounced back and exploded near him, according to Thai authorities. He was arrested following the incident and remains in custody in Thailand. After the attack, police say they discovered two unexploded bombs in the house where Moradi and the other Iranians had been staying, including the one shown in the photos. The authorities in Bangkok say they recovered more than a pound of white military explosive from one unexploded bomb that they said was to be detonated with an M26 hand grenade fuse. The photos show a pin that when pulled, authorities said, would trigger an explosion about four and a half seconds after it was pulled. Israeli authorities and US bomb experts say the bomb in the photos is strikingly similar to those used in other attacks last week in the republic of Georgia and India. “While there are small differences,” said one U.S. expert, “they appear to be factory made.” Multiple authorities told ABC News the devices were either slipped through airport security or smuggled in a diplomatic pouch.
In surveillance photographs from just before the incident,
one of the Iranian suspects is seen apparently carrying
two of the radios, believed to be concealing explosives,
in either hand. (AP Photo)
The photographs show the bomb used what appears to be a hand
grenade firing mechanism and was packed with military-grade
explosives and ball-bearings generally designed to maximize
casualties. Six magnets also appear to be attached, allowing
an attacker to physically stick the explosive
to its intended target. (ABC News)
Exclusive photos! Exclusive photos! Exclusive photos!
I am so impressed!
There’s a whole slideshow at the site.
What they don’t disclose is how long before the explosion at the house he collected the radios. The caption says “just before,” but that’s misleading, since we know they must have had time to assemble the bombs. Admittedly they blew the building up, but that is unlikely to have been because they were trying to get the job done in five minutes flat.
It’s crazy, though: there is no reason on earth to camouflage the bombs as radios or anything else, if you are going to stick the bombs directly onto the targets with grenade detonators, which typically have a five-second delay. In every other respect but camouflage, the radio is a very inconvenient container for the bomb.
It would have to keep the grenade lever accessible, though. A manual lever of this sort is not ideal, since it slows the job down; if a five-second-delay detonator could have been started automatically by the act of sticking the bomb to the target, it would have been better. A professional team would not need to cannibalise hand grenades to make detonators, and would avoid the unnecesssary security risk of importing of buying such grenades, when all that is needed is the detonators themselves. The Tbilisi bomb was initially reported as being, or looking like, a grenade, and it was stuck under a car, which again makes no sense.
I’ve just read the story again, and the argument is that the C-4 was smuggled into the country within the radios, which therefore did play a camouflage purpose. The story says:
This is misleading, unless the radios were already configured into the form of ‘devices’. Were the magnets also built in? Would this justify the description of the radios as ‘devices’? Surely this would be the most unnecessary element of all to build in; anyone can obtain and fit magnets to anything, anywhere they like. This applies even more obviously to the ball bearings. All that can really be claimed is that the bags of C-4 were smuggled into the country inside the radios, which is again, unnecessary camouflage.
Anyway, he goes and collects the radios — from who knows where — with the explosives inside them. Then he and his team attach the grenade detonators — obtained from who knows where. It still makes no sense. Even if we granted that the radios were a sensible means of camouflaging the explosives while bringing them into the country, they are not ideal as bomb casings.