Butt bombsBuilding better butt bombs: Al Qaeda’s instructions to followers
Five years after using a “bum bomb” for the first time – on 28 August 2009, against the Saudi deputy interior minister – al Qaeda bomb makers are at it again. Having actively searched for new and better ways to take advantage of privacy (“don’t touch my junk”) considerations which govern airport security checks, one of the organization’s bomb makers goes public. The latest issue of Inspire, the organization’s English-language magazine, contains a detailed 22-page article on how to construct a butt bomb and conceal it in one’s anal cavity. The article alsoadvises would-be suicide bombers on where to sit on the airplane to ensure the most destruction, and also recommends using the hidden bomb for assassination attempts.
In its efforts to skirt airport security, al Qaeda claims to have come up with improved plans for a deadly “butt bomb” – that is, a bomb which a suicide bombers carries in his rectum.
The Intercept reports that the claim comes five years after Nigerian “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to bring down a plane en route to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas eve 2009.
More tellingly, the claim comes five years after the 28 August 2009 attempt by an al-Qaeda-affiliated Saudi suicide bomber to use the same method to kill a high-level Saudi official. The suicide bomber, carrying explosives in his anal cavity, managed to get close to the Saudi deputy interior minister and detonate himself – the bomber was killed, but the Saudi minister was unharmed.
Drawing lessons from both incidents, al Qaeda’s bomb makers have been actively searching for new and better ways to take advantage of privacy (“don’t touch my junk”) considerations which govern airport security checks.
The latest issue of Inspire, the flagship English-language al Qaeda magazine, includes a 22-page detailed article which provides step-by-step instructions on how to construct the bomb, which is designed to be placed in the rectum where “the [airport] employee do [sic] not reach and have no right to touch or pat, like Umar Farouq did,” according to the magazine.
These detailed plans notwithstanding, it appears that al Qaeda operatives are uncomfortable talk about it for fear of ridicule. Often, the device is referred to only as the “hidden bomb.”
Inspire goes on mention that al Qaeda has been conducting experiments with simple, easy-to-find materials for such bombs. These include items such as eggs, vinegar, and nail polish, as well as specific tips for potential attackers to avoid detection during airport screenings.
Further, the organization suggests that major Western airlines should be targeted with rectal bombs, advising would-be suicide bombers where to sit on the airplane to ensure the most destruction. The article also recommends using the hidden bomb for assassination attempts, particularly of symbolic figures such as Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates (both mentioned by name).
A spokesman for the organization told Intercept that al Qaeda sees the hidden bomb as a way of refocusing attention “on external attacks at a time when the group is facing an extended U.S. drone campaign, as well as internal threats in Yemen from the government army and a rising Houti Insurgency.”
More importantly, the new bomb “is to show that these threats didn’t divert [Al Qaeda} away from its main goal to target America.”
The terrorist group waited several years before providing the details on how to construct the bomb, but has now “decided to release it as a part of a complete program for the Lone Mujahid.”
