Boston Marathon Bombing: Pressure Cookers Used

[lgm270]

It's been reported that the bombs in the Boston Marathon Attack were constructed from Pressure Cookers filled with explosives and shrapnel.   Apparently these munitions are widely used in the middle east.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOSTON_MARATHON_EXPLOSIVES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-16-12-13-07

[vabeachman]

Its was an absolutely terrible act what happened that killed and maimed.   The people who did it have no worth and are cowardly murderers.  I am glad guns weren't used honestly.  I am glad I already have some pressure cookers also.  Probably be a ban on them also. Better start hoarding pressure cookers.

[Ranger99]

only the military, police, and professional
chefs need pressure cookers

[ironglow]

Right Ranger;
  Nobody other than police, military or professional chefs need pressure cookers.  And even then, they don't need 6 litre cookers to cook a chicken!    They should register them at least once a year, paying at least a $25 fee each time.

[lakota]

They devices were in backpacks. Better ban backpacks as well.

[BBF]

Tongue in cheek stuff aside.
 3 fatalities is really a very low number considering how many people were present. I'm not downplaying those that got seriously wounded or maimed.

[Ranger99]

i believe the guilty party(ies) did
exactly what they meant to. put
a dark cloud over a large public
event and spread fear and terrorized
those gathered in public in a free society.
maybe they did or didn't intend to kill
or hurt many, but they spread fear and panic.
i believe their thoughts are mission accomplished.

[coyotejoe]

Tongue in cheek stuff aside.
 3 fatalities is really a very low number considering how many people were present. I'm not downplaying those that got seriously wounded or maimed.

Latest number I heard was about 175 injured, no doubt some of those injuries were pretty minor but others had legs or arms blown off.

[billy_56081]

The reason there were so few fatalities is because a low velocity explosive was used. Most likely black powder from the sound, flash, smoke and the reported smell of sulfur. With low velocity explosives most of the deaths and injuries are from the shrapnel. If high velocity explosives were used the shock wave would have done much of the killing, as well as the shrapnel being propelled at a higher velocity.
 

[coyotejoe]

We may joke about banning pressure cookers but actually HDS issued warnings on pressure cookers in 2004 and again in 2010.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57579890/homeland-security-warned-about-pressure-cooker-bombs-in-2004/
Typically, these bombs are made by placing TNT or other explosives in a pressure cooker and attaching a blasting cap at the top of the pressure cooker. The size of the blast depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount of explosive placed inside," the memo says.
 
 
The memo goes on to detail how pressure cooker bombs are made with readily-available materials and can be as simple or as complex as the builder decides.
 

 
These types of devices can be initiated using basic electronics such as digital watches, garage door openers, cell phones or pagers.
 

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The memo warns that given the familiar appearance of the pressure cooker it is "often overlooked when searching vehicles, residences or merchandise crossing the U.S. Borders."
 

 
The Homeland Security memo offers advice to security personnel if they spot a suspicious-looking pressure cooker: "Don't move the suspect item. Any pressure cooker weighing more than expected may be suspect."
 

 
It also advises that it is not safe to transmit radio signals within 50 feet of the item and recommends people within 50 feet should turn off cell phones and pagers.
 

 39 PhotosDeadly explosions at Boston Marathon
If a suspicious pressure cooker is inside a building, Homeland Security recommends people be evacuated to a distance of 150 feet. If the suspicious pressure cooker is outside a building the evacuation distance is 1,850 feet.
 

 
A pamphlet issued jointly by Homeland Security and the FBI in July 2010 noted that the presence of a pressure cooker in an unusual location such as a building lobby or busy street corner should be treated as suspicious.
 

 
"Placed carefully, such devices provide little or no indication of an impending attack," the memo says.
 

"Alertness and quick reaction to discovery of such concealment devices in unusual locations or circumstances can improve chances of early detection and prevention of an attack."
 

 
Pressure cookers have been involved in numerous terror plans prior to the Boston Marathon bombings.
 

 
One of the three devices used in the 1 May 2010 attack in Times Square incorporated a pressure cooker containing approximately 120 firecrackers.
 

[tobster]

I'm willing to bet that a lot of the younger generation wouldn't know a pressure cooker if they saw one.

[vabeachman]

They just found and detonated a pipe bomb here in Iowa.  PVC pipe with ends tape over.

[Ranger99]

watching the local news this evening, i
was distracted for a moment and when
local news goes off the abc network news
comes on. i heard enough of it to hear
diane sawyer comment on " they've been
warning about these pressure cookers"
what has become of this nation to where
we make a big affair over objects like
cookers and fertilizer, etc.?  why
not go ahead and say there are evil people
in the world and they'll do evil until killed
or jailed?
what's next for the idiot do-gooders ?
showing i.d. for bricks or hatchets?
i can imagine now the hardware stores
pulling pressure cooker lid gaskets and
weights of the shelf, or calling the police
if you want a new bar and chain for your saw.
how about waiting periods for hatchets and axes?
i imagine some of these types would
probably s%&t if they saw me trimming
the bushes with my machete. 

[blind ear]

I wonder what Diane Sawyer imagines a pressure cooker to be?
Lenno needs to ask the "man on the street" what a "pressure cooker" is?
ear

[Ranger99]

i seldom watch the biased national news.
one of the things on local news was a
group of senior citizen spelling bee
contestants. part of the report was a
"man on the street" quiz of spellings.
some of the ones were current college
students that couldn't half spell and
they blew it off saying my computer
spells for me.    and they used to
say that it was a good thing letting
students use calculators in math class
when they first started that. no wonder
so many dirt-poor foreign students can
out-class american kids academically. . . . .

[lakota]

Who's joking? I wouldnt be suprised to see the nanny state to go after all of the items involved rather than the people who actually did the bombing.