Cops: Times Square Bomber Purposely Used Weak Materials
Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad purchased less powerful materials for his homemade car bomb to avoid tipping off authorities, according to New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
"He tried to lessen the explosive nature of the fertilizer that was used because he thought he would get a higher profile as he went to buy it,'' Kelly said in a speech Tuesday at the Center for National Policy in Washington, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Times Square could have been the site of scores of deaths May 1, when the Pakistani-born U.S. citizen placed a car bomb in the center of the pulsing tourist destination. Instead, the bomb simply smoldered, leading officials to wonder why a trained terrorist would build such a poorly engineered device.
Kelly said Shahzad used less potent materials like nonexplosive fertilizer and M-88 fireworks in the hopes of staying off the FBI's radar. The tactic worked, but the bomb did not.
"The positive side is it's become more difficult to acquire what once were readily available ingredients for devastating bombs," New York City Police chief spokesman Paul Browne told The New York Times on Tuesday.
But a recent FBI test of a bomb similar to the one in Shahzad's Nissan Pathfinder found that the Times Square bomb could have caused severe devastation. Kelly said Tuesday that if the bomb had gone off, "it would have been extremely deadly," according to a report in The Associated Press.
"He tried to lessen the explosive nature of the fertilizer that was used because he thought he would get a higher profile as he went to buy it,'' Kelly said in a speech Tuesday at the Center for National Policy in Washington, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. Department of Justice
Faisal Shahzad, the chief suspect in the attempted Times Square car bombing on May 1, plead guilty in Manhattan federal court.
Kelly said Shahzad used less potent materials like nonexplosive fertilizer and M-88 fireworks in the hopes of staying off the FBI's radar. The tactic worked, but the bomb did not.
"The positive side is it's become more difficult to acquire what once were readily available ingredients for devastating bombs," New York City Police chief spokesman Paul Browne told The New York Times on Tuesday.
But a recent FBI test of a bomb similar to the one in Shahzad's Nissan Pathfinder found that the Times Square bomb could have caused severe devastation. Kelly said Tuesday that if the bomb had gone off, "it would have been extremely deadly," according to a report in The Associated Press.
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