Al-Qaeda's New Security Threat: Bombs Inside Bombers

Recent Saudi assassination attempt used security-proof technique
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 30, 2009 5:10 PM CDT
Al-Qaeda's New Security Threat: Bombs Inside Bombers
Pakistani workers clear the rubble at the site of Saturday's suicide bombing at a police station in Bannu, Pakistan on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009.   (AP Photo/Ijaz Mohammad)

Al-Qaeda debuted a new suicide bomb technique in an attempt on the life of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef this month—one that could raise serious concerns about airport security. The bomber convinced Nayef that he wished to surrender and provide intelligence on his former comrades. Though he was searched thoroughly, security agents found nothing—because, in a trick adapted from drug smuggling, the bomber had a pound of explosives and a detonator inside his rectum, reports CBS News.

The bomb likely detonated with a text message from an outside agent. Physical limitations mean the explosion from a bomb inside a body cavity will be smaller than from a vest—hence the failure to kill Nayaf—but aboard a plane in-flight, the results would be devastating. Al-Qaeda plans to share the technique on the Internet, and there's no way to fight it “other than to require people to strip naked at the airport,” says an aviation security expert.
(More al-Qaeda stories.)

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