On 21 Jul 2005 08:50:23 -0700, "Neil Sluman"
wrote:



Simon Lane wrote:
Peter Trei wrote:
[...]
One of the reports on BBC World service (30 minutes ago) had the bus
driver reporting a split open rucksack, with white powder spilling
out.

My suspicion is that these were real bombs, but the main charges
failed to detonate.

Modern high explosives are pretty insensitive, and it require a
detonator or blasting cap to get them going.

Another theory - these guys were set to go but police nabbed the
explosives they were planning to use, but they decided to go ahead
anyway (with fake explosives!).

Doesn't seem likely, but neither does being as organised as they seem
to have been but none of the devices working...

There's a certain logic to the bombs being badly made. I can't imagine
it's easy to test bombs.

"Co-op mixture" made with the wrong type of weedkiller wouldn't seem
to be too far-fetched a mistake for an amateur bomb-maker to make. One
of various news reports had mention of a "white powder" in conjunction
with a rucksack at one location.