RDX use in Varanasi not yet confirmed

VIJAY UPADHYAY

AGRA. The Varanasi blasts could have been the result of a “Urea (Ammonium Nitrate) Bomb”, according to the initial information provided by the Agra based Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) experts.

According to the FSL sources, the evidence gathered from the two blast sites by the experts team being led by Dr. Santosh Kumar, the chief forensic expert at the FSL, had a common feature of Ammonium Nitrate and Aluminum powder residues spread out in the area which indicated that a large quantity of these two ingredients had been involved in making these lethal bombs.

Apart from these, the residues also contained traces of fuel oil that had been added to the mixture, indicating the most common terrorist recipe of a “Urea Bomb” that could have been detonated by using a small pellet of RDX as the initiator, though according to Sangeeta Rani, Jt. Director Agra FSL, there was a need for further testing of the samples at the laboratory in Agra, before the use of RDX could be confirmed.

Notably, Ammonium Nitrate bombs are the favorite weapons of terror used by the Islamic terrorists all over the world as they could be prepared using most commonly available ingredients like Urea and diesel, with aluminum powder often added to it to increase the “punch” of the bomb. But being very stable, these urea bombs need very high temperatures to detonate and small quantities of RDX are often used for the purpose by the terrorists, concocting a highly explosive, yet stable mixture that could be triggered to explode either remotely or with a timing mechanism.

Such a bomb had even been used in the first terrorist attack on the twin towers of World Trade Center in the year 1993, when the Islamic terrorists parked a van full of ammonium nitrate and diesel inside the basement parking of the WTC and detonated the mixture using nitrogylycerine and a delay fuse. Since then, the terrorists have been continually refining their bomb-making technology but still, the “Urea Bombs” remain the favourite terror-weapon of the Islamic radicals.

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