pressure cooker bomb

File:Pressure.cooker.jpg

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.{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/boston-bombs-pressure-cookers_n_3093288.html |title=Boston Bombs Were In Pressure Cookers And Hidden In Black Duffel Bags, Says Person Briefed On Probe |work=Huffington Post |date=April 16, 2013 |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-date=April 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130416215725/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/boston-bombs-pressure-cookers_n_3093288.html |url-status=live }} The power of the explosion depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount and type of explosives used.{{cite web|url=http://www.5nr.org/downloads/notice/PotentialTerrorist.pdf|title=POTENTIAL TERRORIST USE OF PRESSURECOOKERS|author=US Department of Homeland Security|year=2004|access-date=April 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512075135/http://www.5nr.org/downloads/notice/PotentialTerrorist.pdf|archive-date=May 12, 2013|url-status=dead}} {{PD-notice}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/how-pressure-cooker-bombs-boost-the-deadliness-of-low-explosives-1.1241516 |title=How pressure-cooker bombs boost the deadliness of 'low explosives' |publisher=Ctvnews.ca |date=February 20, 2005 |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419113136/http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/how-pressure-cooker-bombs-boost-the-deadliness-of-low-explosives-1.1241516 |archive-date=April 19, 2013 |url-status=dead }}

French police prevented a terrorist attack in Strasbourg, France, on New Year's Eve 2000. Ten militants were convicted for the plot.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/a-history-of-pressure-cooker-bombs-1.1301728 |title=A history of pressure cooker bombs |publisher=CBC News |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417103824/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/04/16/f-pressure-cooker-bomb.html |url-status=live }}

From 2002–04, pressure cooker bombs were widely used in terror and IED attacks in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan.{{cite magazine |last=Crowley |first=Michael |url=https://swampland.time.com/2013/04/16/a-short-history-of-pressure-cooker-bombs/ |title=A Short Recent History of Pressure Cooker Bombs |magazine=Time |date=April 16, 2013 |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418222601/http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/16/a-short-history-of-pressure-cooker-bombs/ |archive-date=April 18, 2013 |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/29/1072546443203.html |title=Taliban claims Kabul suicide attack |newspaper=smh.com.au |date=December 29, 2003 |access-date=April 19, 2013 |archive-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728231914/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/29/1072546443203.html |url-status=live }} The Taliban claimed responsibility. In 2004, the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to US agencies about pressure cookers being converted to IEDs.

In July 2006, in Mumbai, India, 209 people were killed and 714 injured by pressure cooker bombs in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings. According to Mumbai Police, the bombings were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/30/india.bombs/index.html?section=cnn_world|title=Death Toll at 209|date=September 30, 2006|access-date=April 17, 2013|publisher=CNN|archive-date=April 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423062022/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/30/india.bombs/index.html?section=cnn_world|url-status=live}}

On 20 January 2023 a student nurse, Mohammad Farooq was arrested outside the maternity ward of St James’s Hospital in Leeds, UK after planning to denonate a homemade pressure cooker bomb inside the hospital. [https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/22/hero-patient-spent-two-hours-talking-terrorist-blowing-hospital-22772646/ A patient at the hospital] had talked Farooq down from detonating the bomb. [https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/updated-sentence-man-jailed-taking-bomb-hospital-and-planning-attack-raf-base Farooq was sentenced to 37 years].

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".{{cite news | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boston-bombing-investigators-focus-on-possible-suspect-in-surveillance-video/ | title=Boston bombing investigators focus on possible suspect in surveillance video | publisher=CBS News | work=CBS/AP News Article | date=April 17, 2013 | access-date=April 18, 2013 | archive-date=April 19, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419231927/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57579984/investigators-focus-on-possible-suspect-in-surveillance-video | url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/16/al-qaeda-magazine-pressure-cooker-bomb-directions/2088109/|title=Pressure-cooker bomb instructions in Al-Qaeda magazine|work=USA Today|date=April 16, 2013|access-date=April 16, 2013|archive-date=April 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418063402/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/16/al-qaeda-magazine-pressure-cooker-bomb-directions/2088109/|url-status=live}} The article describes the technique as a simple way to make a highly effective bomb.{{cite news|url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOSTON_MARATHON_EXPLOSIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-16-21-49-48|title=Pressure cooker bombs suspected in Boston blast|agency=Associated Press|date=April 16, 2013|access-date=April 16, 2013|archive-date=June 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607224218/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOSTON_MARATHON_EXPLOSIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-16-21-49-48|url-status=live}} Analysts believe the work was the brainchild of Anwar al-Awlaki, and edited by him and by Samir Khan.{{cite news |author=Paul Koring |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/lone-wolf-bomber-scenario-poses-special-challenges-for-law-agencies/article11338055/ |title=Lone-wolf bomber scenario poses special challenges for law agencies |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=April 17, 2013 |access-date=April 17, 2013 |location=Toronto |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029151143/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/lone-wolf-bomber-scenario-poses-special-challenges-for-law-agencies/article11338055/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9998886/Boston-Marathon-bombs-Al-Qaedas-Inspire-magazine-taught-pressure-cooker-bomb-making-techniques.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418115112/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9998886/Boston-Marathon-bombs-al-Qaedas-Inspire-magazine-taught-pressure-cooker-bomb-making-techniques.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 18, 2013|title=Boston Marathon bombs: Al-Qaeda's Inspire magazine taught pressure cooker bomb-making techniques|work=The Telegraph|date=April 16, 2013|access-date=April 16, 2013|location=London|first=Richard|last=Spencer}} 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.{{cite news |author=Lee Keath |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pressure-cooker-bombs-past-militants-18971893#.UW88_Vfhf5k |title=Pressure Cooker Bombs Used in Past by Militants |publisher=ABC News |access-date=April 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419154137/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pressure-cooker-bombs-past-militants-18971893#.UW88_Vfhf5k |archive-date=April 19, 2013 |url-status=dead }}

File:Timesssquaresuv.jpg's vehicle in New York’s Times Square bombing]]

Several Islamic radical terrorist attempts in the 2010s involved pressure cooker bombs. The unsuccessful Times Square car bombing attempt in May 2010, in New York City, included a pressure cooker bomb which failed to detonate.{{cite news|url=http://news.msn.com/world/pressure-cooker-bombs-used-around-the-world |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419113809/http://news.msn.com/world/pressure-cooker-bombs-used-around-the-world |archive-date=April 19, 2013 |title=Pressure-cooker bombs used around the world |publisher=MSN |date=April 13, 2013 |access-date=December 28, 2015}} The bomb-maker, Faisal Shahzad, was sentenced to life in prison. 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.{{cite news |author=Jill Lawless and Malin Rising |date=December 13, 2010 |title=Taimour Abdulwahab, Stockholm Bomber, Seen As Radical By U.K. Muslims |work=Huffington Post |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/13/taimour-abdulwahab-stockh_n_796095.html |access-date=April 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131118143906/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/13/taimour-abdulwahab-stockh_n_796095.html |archive-date=November 18, 2013}}

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.{{Cite web |date=2011-05-06 |title=L'incroyable histoire du terroriste de Marrakech |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/05/06/01003-20110506ARTFIG00667-l-incroyable-histoire-du-terroriste-de-marrakech.php |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=LEFIGARO |language=fr |archive-date=November 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130030503/https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/05/06/01003-20110506ARTFIG00667-l-incroyable-histoire-du-terroriste-de-marrakech.php |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/pressure-cooker-bombs-history_n_3094193.html |title='Pressure Cooker' Bombs: Crude Devices In Boston Marathon Explosions Used In Previous Attacks Around The World ) |work=Huffington Post |date=April 16, 2013 |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130417155747/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/pressure-cooker-bombs-history_n_3094193.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Forensic-Investigators-Gather-Clues-to-the-Boston-4440090.php#page-2 |title=Forensic Investigators Gather Clues to the Boston Bombing |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 1, 2010 |access-date=April 17, 2013 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He was sentenced to life in prison.

In Pakistan, in March 2010, six employees of World Vision International were killed by a remotely detonated pressure cooker bomb.{{cite web |url=http://info.publicintelligence.net/DHSpressurecookerieds.pdf |title=ROLL CALL RELEASE; (U) Prepared by the DHS/I&A Homeland Counterterrorism Division, the FBI/Directorate of Intelligence, and the Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group; Warning: This document is UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (U//FOUO). Pressure Cookers as IED Components |publisher=publicintelligence.net |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428060839/http://info.publicintelligence.net/DHSpressurecookerieds.pdf |archive-date=April 28, 2013 |url-status=dead }} 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.

Two pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/04/16/glance-pressure-cooker-bombs/MYVLq4WWSAOVsVjCMIiP2N/story.html |title=AP Glance: Pressure Cooker Bombs |access-date=April 16, 2013 |date=April 16, 2013 |agency=Associated Press |last1=Vinograd |first1=Cassandra |last2=Dodds |first2=Paisley |work=The Boston Globe |archive-date=April 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422145145/http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/04/16/glance-pressure-cooker-bombs/MYVLq4WWSAOVsVjCMIiP2N/story.html |url-status=live }} 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,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/us/officials-investigate-boston-explosions.html|title=Boston Bombs Were Loaded to Maim|work=New York Times|date=April 16, 2013|access-date=April 16, 2013|first1=Katharine Q.|last1=Seelye|first2=Eric|last2=Schmitt|first3=Scott|last3=Shane|archive-date=April 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418010110/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/us/officials-investigate-boston-explosions.html|url-status=live}} however, subsequent evidence indicated a remote device was used to trigger the bombs.{{cite news|title=Congressman: Boston bombs triggered by remote control|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/congressman-boston-bombs-triggered-by-remote-control/|access-date=1 October 2013|newspaper=CBS News|date=24 April 2013|archive-date=October 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031193353/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57581244/congressman-boston-bombs-triggered-by-remote-control/|url-status=live}} One of the bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told investigators that he learned the technique from an article in Inspire magazine.{{cite news |url=http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/23/17877288-search-of-tsarnaevs-phones-computers-finds-no-indication-of-accomplice-source-says?lite |title=Search of Tsarnaevs' phones, computers finds no indication of accomplice, source says |publisher=nbcnews.com |access-date=April 25, 2013 |archive-date=April 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425081738/http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/23/17877288-search-of-tsarnaevs-phones-computers-finds-no-indication-of-accomplice-source-says?lite |url-status=live }}

On Canada Day 2013, pressure cooker bombs failed to explode at the Parliament Building in Victoria, British Columbia.{{cite news |last= |date=2013-07-02 |title=Pressure cooker bomb plot thwarted in Canada |newspaper=The Telegraph (UK) |agency=Reuters |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/10156289/Al-Qaeda-pressure-cooker-bomb-plot-thwarted-in-Canada.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2013-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010131801/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/10156289/Al-Qaeda-pressure-cooker-bomb-plot-thwarted-in-Canada.html |archive-date=2016-10-10}}

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.[http://wroclawuncut.com/2016/05/19/no-fatalities-following-explosion-145-bus/ Gregor Gowans, "No Fatalities Following Explosion Involving Bus 145"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606065158/http://wroclawuncut.com/2016/05/19/no-fatalities-following-explosion-145-bus/ |date=June 6, 2017 }}, Wroclaw Uncut, 19 May 2016.

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.{{cite news|title=New York City shaken by 'intentional' explosion, 29 injured|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-blast-idUSKCN11O012|access-date=September 18, 2016|archive-date=September 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918011954/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-blast-idUSKCN11O012|url-status=live}} At least one other bomb was found unexploded.{{cite web|first1=Christopher|last1=Mele|first2=Al|last2=Baker|first3=Michael|last3=Barbaro|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/nyregion/chelsea-explosion-new-york-city.html|title=Powerful Blast Injures at Least 29 in Manhattan; Second Device Found|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 17, 2016|access-date=September 17, 2016|archive-date=September 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918025042/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/nyregion/chelsea-explosion-new-york-city.html|url-status=live}} A suspect for that explosion and others in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was captured two days later.{{cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/19/us/new-york-explosion-investigation/index.html?sr=twCNN091916new-york-explosion-investigation0944AMVODtop | title=NY, NJ bombings: Suspect in custody after shootout with police, sources say | work=CNN | date=September 19, 2016 | access-date=September 19, 2016 | archive-date=September 19, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919231545/http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/19/us/new-york-explosion-investigation/index.html?sr=twCNN091916new-york-explosion-investigation0944AMVODtop | url-status=live }}

Both the 2010 Stockholm bombings and the foiled 2016 Sweden terrorism plot involved pressure-cooker bombs.{{cite news|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article8272064.ab|title=Han hade ett bombbälte|newspaper=Aftonbladet|language=sv|date=13 December 2010|access-date=21 February 2017|archive-date=October 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017122102/http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article8272064.ab|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Teaching student jailed over Sweden terror plot|url=http://www.thelocal.se/20160602/ex-teaching-student-found-guilty-of-sweden-terror-plot|access-date=20 February 2017|website=The Local|date=2 June 2016|archive-date=February 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221110113/http://www.thelocal.se/20160602/ex-teaching-student-found-guilty-of-sweden-terror-plot|url-status=live}}

• Car bomb
• Nail bomb
• Time bomb
• Pipe bomb, another type of IED that works in a similar way to a pressure cooker bomb

{{reflist|33em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130428060839/http://info.publicintelligence.net/DHSpressurecookerieds.pdf US Department of Homeland Security information leaflet on pressure cooker bombs], July 1, 2010

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pressure cooker bomb}}

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