Excerpted from ENN Emergency Services Report - 02/03/97 - Vol. 3, No.034
ERRI Bomb/Bomb Threat Chronology - 1997
By C. L. Staten, ERRI Senior Analyst
02/03/97 - A bomb exploded this morning in Paris outside the American block at the Cite Universitaire. Windows and
parked cars were damaged. No one was injured and nobody has claimed responsibility.
02/01/97 - CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA (ENN) - A third package bomb was disarmed by the San Diego County
Sheriff's Department bomb squad on Saturday night. The bomb was reportedly mailed to the home of a federal employee.
EOD experts took the bomb out of the house and defused it outside.
02/01/97 - SAN DIEGO (ENN) - A second pipe bomb similar to one mailed to the FBI was sent to a California waste
disposal company on Friday (01/31/97). The FBI is investigating whether the two devices may be connected. Police
bomb experts control-detonated the IED after being alerted by an employee of the firm located in Chula Vista, which is
about 14 miles south of San Diego. Federal law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. are on alert after a pipe bomb
mailed to the FBI was discovered at the San Diego field office on Thursday. The FBI said that the two packages were
"almost identical" in size and carried stamps depicting flowers.
Last Thursday, 01/30/97 - an alleged dynamite bomb tore a 3-foot crater into the Solano County, CA courthouse. It
caused damage to the building, but no injuries.
PALOS HEIGHTS, Il., Jan. 31 Experts from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are examining debris
from a sophisticated car bomb that exploded in south suburban Palos Heights, IL. A pair of powerful blasts ripped
through a Ford Mustang Thursday morning (01/30/97), but the car's driver, David Blaze of Orland Park, miraculously
emerged unscathed. An ATF spokesman said that the Palos Heights pipe bombs were unlike the vast majority that
authorities run across. Allegedly, were much more complicated than the usual crude devices and obviously were built by a
professional.
On Jan. 26, 1997 - a stick of dynamite exploded outside a Wells Fargo bank branch, in Vallejo, CA damaging three
ATMs. There were no injuries in the explosion. A suspect may have been captured on a video surveillance camera.
One day earlier, on Jan 25, 1997 - Children in Vallejo, CA found a backpack stuffed with 30 sticks of dynamite leaning
against a section of the county library that houses police evidence. That bomb, safely dismantled, helped lead investigators
to one suspect, police said.
01/26/97 - SPOKANE, Wash. -- Three men charged with robbing banks and pipe-bombing a newspaper office and
abortion clinic are being investigated in the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, a newspaper reported Sunday. The
Spokesman-Review in Spokane, the newspaper that was bombed, quoted anonymous FBI and Justice Department
officials as saying the men are the "strongest leads" in the July 27 Olympic bombing. Officially, the 100-member task force
investigating the Olympics bombing would not talk about any possible connection to the Spokane bombing suspects. "We
just don't have any comment," FBI spokesman Jay Spadafore in Atlanta told the paper.
ENN Special Report 01/22/97 - 09:45CST (ENN) Washington, DC -- Sources close to the DC Metropolitan Police
investigation of a reported explosion this morning are saying that they can not confirm that the incident actually involved a
Planned Parenthood Clinic. The latest reports indicate that a suspect has been questioned and that he is maintaining that he
just "found" what was believed to be a "M-228" training grenade. When he picked it up, it reportedly exploded. Next, the
unidentified suspect reportedly fled the scene and may have dropped part of the device at another location near the
Mayflower hotel. The suspect may have received hand injuries.
ENN Special Report 01/19/97 - 18:10CST -- (ENN) Tulsa, Oklahoma - At least one bomb reportedly rocked the
Reproductive Services Clinic in Tulsa, OK at approximately 15:00CST this afternoon. Although details are still sketchy, it
is believed that an improvised device exploded just outside the clinic. No injuries or deaths were reported, as the clinic
was closed for the day. The building housing the clinic did sustain some damage. According to a local police source, both
FBI and ATF agents are on-the-scene and investigating this latest blast at the family planning facility. This same clinic was
reportedly attacked with molotov cocktails on New Years day.
01/18/97 - ENN issued updated "Emergency Action Drill" for responders. Several states issued "officer safety alerts"
based on the ERRI warnings and reports. The EAD offers some advise and standard operating procedures for responding
to bombing or bomb threat incidents. (Available on WWW at http://www.emergency.com/actndril.htm)
01/16/97 - ENN circulated to law enforcement agencies a copy of a July, 13, 1996 "bombing" article from Spokane,
WA., The Spokeman-Review outlined the possibility of right-wing extremist involvement in abortion clinic violence and
explosions. This report may have provided a lead in the Centennial Olympic Park Bombing.
ENN "Instant Update" 01/16/97 - 10:22CST (ENN) Via ENN correspondent in Atlanta, GA -- A building that houses
an abortion clinic, located at Carpenter and Roswell Rd. in North suburban Atlanta was badly damaged by an explosion,
shortly after 09:30 this morning. The Fulton County Fire Dept responded to the scene, along with Police and EMS units.
The Bureau of Alcohol. Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) were also dispatched to assist. As the preliminary investigation
continued, a secondary explosion followed at about 10:30. The secondary device was reportedly larger than the first,
according to witnesses. Two firefighters, federal agents, and civilians were reportedly injured by the second blast. ERRI
counter-terrorist (CT) analysts said that the use of a command detonated or timed secondary device is one commonly
used to injure or kill rescuers that have been sent to the scene.
ENN "Instant Update" 01/15/97 - 10:45CST (ENN) New York -- Another unconfirmed report of a bomb threat at
the United Nation's building has just be received according to the ENN New York/New Jersey Bureau. Police and bomb
technicians are reportedly on-the-scene at the building at the time of this report. It is not confirmed that a viable device has
been found. U.N. officials and those of several Mid-Eastern embassies have been described by law enforcement officials
as "extremely jittery" since another wave of letter bombs have been found in Al-Hayat offices in London, New York, and
Saudi Arabia.
01/13/97 - "Instant Update" from J. Fay, NYC/NJ Correspondent -- (ENN)1640 hrs EST NYPD Bomb Squad is
deactivating another confirmed letter bomb that was found in the UN Mail room about 25 minutes ago. The deactivation is
being done in the basement of the UN building, as was the other bomb that was found at about 1130 hrs EST today.
ENN Instant Update - 01/13/97 - 13:07CST (ENN) NYPD units are being kept busy this afternoon, as calls come in
from various midtown offices as suspicious packages and letters show up in their mail. Earlier this afternoon, the NYPD
Bomb Sq. disabled one confirmed letter bomb to the Al-Hayat news agency in the UN Building. This was after two of the
same type letter bombs went off in the London office of Al-Hayat earlier. As police were handling the UN situation, a call
came in for a "suspicious package" at the Israeli Consulate to the UN located at 800 Third Ave. at East 42 St. However,
that package was declared as "properly identified" by Bomb Squad members, indicating that it was not a
bomb.
01/11/97 - Letter Bombs (SNS News Service - Shomron-Israel) -- After intercepting eight letter bombs in the United
States last week, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated they suspect Moslem fundamentalists.
According to terrorism experts, the devices "were strikingly familiar to 14 letter bombs seized in Tel-Aviv in 1990 and
suspected by Israel to have come from a radical Palestinian group." Source: Newsweek Magazine
01/08/97 - PHILADELPHIA -- Federal authorities have charged a 31-year-old Philadelphia man with trying to mail a
home-made bomb to President Clinton, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday. An official of the U.S. Attorney's
office declined to discuss the report, other than to say he was familiar with the case. According to the Inquirer, Joseph
Washington was charged on Monday with trying to send a padded envelope containing a plastic bottle filled with a
flammable liquid and a wick to the White House. It was intercepted last Thursday after postal officials X-rayed it at the
Fairmount branch post office. The Inquirer said the man voluntarily admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital after he was
charged.
01/04/97 - WASHINGTON, DC -- Investigators strongly suspect that letter bombs sent to Washington and Kansas
were armed with Semtex, a plastic explosive used for some of the most sensational terror attacks of recent years, security
experts said on Saturday. FBI investigators are tracing the source of eight bombs mailed inside greeting cards addressed
to the Washington offices of the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat and a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. They
would not talk about their findings. But Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism official, said an orange color on
the explosive material and a distinctive odor prompted investigators to suspect they were made with Semtex. He said his
information came from people familiar with the investigation. "It's pretty certain it was Semtex, but as of Friday, lab tests
had not been done," Cannistraro said. On Saturday, FBI spokesman Rex Tomb would not confirm or deny the presence
of Semtex.
ENN Special Report 01/03/96 - 01:00CST -- (ENN) Washington, DC - The FBI has this evening issued a warning
about letter bombs, mailed from Alexandria, Egypt, and received at the National Press Club building in Washington DC.
Seven devices were received at the offices of the Al-Hayat, an Arabic newspaper. They were described as being in plain,
white envelopes, 5 1/2" X 61/2", with computer-generated addresses, no return address. They were post-marked on or
around Dec. 21, 1996 from an Egyptian post office. They appeared to be Christmas cards.
SECURITY ALERT - issued 12/24/97 via ENN Daily Report-Vol. 2, No. 359 - By: Paul Copher, ENN
Counter-Terrorist Analyst-at-Large -- (ENN) The nice Christmas cards that use tiny circuit boards to play music when
opened are now being bought and can be used to act as the final circuit in the detonation of letter bombs. The device is
removed from the card and fixed to the letter bomb. The flat DataSheet, Flex-X or even thinly cut and rolled out C-4 can
be fitted with a detonator and the wiring tied into the musical circuit board. The tiny battery in the board has been found to
have enough of a charge to fire some detonators. The explosive can then be fitted into a magazine or book. When opened
the circuit will send the detonator a current of electricity and detonate the blasting cap and explosive.
The trend of bomb making is going high tech with smaller batteries set ups, mini circuit boards, detonator types and even E
cells. One recent find included a solar cell tied into a device that would detonate when explosed to interior lights and
looked like a hand held calculator. When the panel was exposed to a desk light and the calculator turned on it would
explode.
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1997
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