Pressure cooker bombs are relatively easy to construct. Most of the materials required can be easily obtained. The bomb can be triggered using a simple electronic device such as a digital watch, garage door opener, cell phone, pager, kitchen timer, or alarm clock.[1][3] The power of the explosion depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount and type of explosives used.[4]
Similar to a pipe bomb, the containment provided by the pressure cooker means that the energy from the explosion is confined until the pressure cooker itself explodes. This in turn creates a relatively large explosion using low explosives and generating potentially lethal fragmentation.[5]
From 2002–04, pressure cooker bombs were widely used in terror and IED attacks in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan.[7]
In 2003, a terrorist from Chechnya named Abdullah, carrying a pressure cooker bomb detonated explosives and killed six people before being arrested near Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan.[8] The Taliban claimed responsibility.[8] In 2004, the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to US agencies about pressure cookers being converted to IEDs.[7]
Step-by-step instructions for making pressure cooker bombs were published in an article titled "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" in the Al-Qaeda-linked Inspire magazine in the summer of 2010, by "The AQ chef".[3][10][11] The article describes the technique as a simple way to make a highly effective bomb.[12] Analysts believe the work was the brainchild of Anwar al-Awlaki, and edited by him and by Samir Khan.[13][14]Inspire's goal is to encourage "lone wolf" Jihadis to attack what they view as the enemies of Jihad, including the United States and its allies.[15]
Several Islamic radical terrorist attempts in the 2010s involved pressure cooker bombs.[7] The unsuccessful Times Square car bombing attempt in May 2010, in New York City, included a pressure cooker bomb which failed to detonate.[6][7][16][17] The bomb-maker, Faisal Shahzad, was sentenced to life in prison.[6] In the December 2010 Stockholm bombings, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an Islamic extremist suicide bomber who cited Swedish troops in Afghanistan as justification for the attack, set up a pressure cooker bomb, which failed to detonate.[7][18]
Pressure cooker bombs were utilized in the 2011 Marrakesh bombing, where Adil El-Atmani, a Moroccan citizen who had pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, remotely detonated 2 homemade bombs, killing 17 and injuring 25.[19]
In July 2011, Naser Jason Abdo, a U.S. Army private at Fort Hood, Texas, who took pressure cooker bomb-making tips from the Al-Qaeda magazine article, was arrested for planning to blow up a restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers. Two pressure cookers and bomb-making materials were found in his hotel room.[7][17][20] He was sentenced to life in prison.[17]
In Pakistan, in March 2010, six employees of World Vision International were killed by a remotely detonated pressure cooker bomb.[17][21] In October 2012, French police found a makeshift pressure cooker with bomb-making materials near Paris as part of an investigation into an attack on a kosher grocery store.[16]
Two pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.[22] The pressure cookers were filled with nails, ball bearings, and black powder. Initially, it was believed the devices were triggered by kitchen-type egg timers,[23] however, subsequent evidence indicated a remote device was used to trigger the bombs.[24] One of the bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told investigators that he learned the technique from an article in Inspire magazine.[25]
On May 19, 2016, passengers on a bus in Wrocław, Poland, alerted the driver to a suspicious package. The driver removed the package from the bus. Shortly later it exploded with no fatalities but did injure one woman slightly. Authorities believed it was a three liter pressure cooker packed with nails and nitrate explosive.[27]
On September 17, 2016, an explosion occurred in Lower Manhattan, New York, wounding 29 civilians. The origin of the explosion was found to be a pressure cooker bomb.[28] At least one other bomb was found unexploded.[29] A suspect for that explosion and others in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was captured two days later.[30]
^Vinograd, Cassandra; Dodds, Paisley (April 16, 2013). "AP Glance: Pressure Cooker Bombs". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 22, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
^Seelye, Katharine Q.; Schmitt, Eric; Shane, Scott (April 16, 2013). "Boston Bombs Were Loaded to Maim". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 18, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
