This is the stuff that scares me...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Zooropa

Acrobat
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Messages
421
Location
Long Island, New York, USA
Mailbox Package Explodes in Philly
Tue May 14, 5:43 AM ET
By BILL BERGSTROM, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Federal agencies were investigating the origin of a mailbox package that exploded while being defused by a bomb squad after a mail carrier became alarmed by an attached note.

"He saw a package. He didn't like the looks of it, he didn't like the writing on it," FBI (news - web sites) spokeswoman Linda Vizi said.

Bystanders Maria Gonzalez and Joe Johnson said the mail carrier told them the note said "Free Palestine" and mentioned al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s terrorist network. A police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that account.

The carrier didn't handle the package and the bomb squad was called to examine it. The squad was attempting to disarm it from a safe distance when the bomb detonated. The blast sprayed shrapnel for 100 feet, but no one was injured, Vizi said.

The device was wrapped in a foam box and packed with nails. It also had a sophisticated switch to allow the bomber to plant it safely and avoid a premature explosion, authorities said.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI, postal service and the region's Joint Terrorism Task Force were investigating. Postal officials said they sent out an alert to warn all area postal employees.

"We're very concerned at this point," said John R. Sinnen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Gonzalez said the explosion hurled at least three chunks of metal into the street. The blast left a black scuff mark on the street but caused no other visible damage in the residential neighborhood.

Postal workers have been more alert since six pipe bombs hidden in rural mailboxes exploded in Iowa and Illinois earlier this month, injuring four letter carriers and two residents. College student Luke Helder has been charged in that unrelated case with leaving those and 12 other bombs in five states.


You know, its just the whole uncertainty part that gives me the creeps.



------------------
Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Zooropa FTP
 
Back
Top Bottom