Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1115818
rounded by shrapnel ("up to a hundred thousand pieces" – according to the in- struction). There are also instructions on how to assemble several kinds of detonators – including remotely controlled, based on a standard motorcycle alarm system, a time-delay mechanism – involving modi- fying the clock, as you can easily assume, or on how to produce triacetone triper- oxide (TATP) at home – which is simple in theory, but the compound is actually highly unstable and not easy to handle. These methods have been utilized many times, e.g. in 2005 in London, during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, in Paris in 2015 or in Brussels in 2017. Some of these attacks – like that of 7 July 2005 – caused really many casualties. In other cases, like in Paris, the explosives used turned out to be little effective because of both the poor quality of explosive ma- terials alone and construction flaws. Another recommended method is to launch attacks involving the use of fire- arms. This is covered at more length among extreme rightist and leftist ter- rorists. In the US, much attention is giv- en to hiding weapons and to home-made firearms – short and long. Jihadist hand- books, although including user manuals for the AK rifle and the Makarov pistol, are relatively limited from the techni- cal point of view. There is no informa- tion about tactics, and some handbooks even recommend learning it by playing computer games. We can assume there may be several reasons behind it. First, firearms can be purchased on the black market, which is easier than putting them together on one's own. Second, it is believed that firearms are very simple in use; that it's enough to point a gun at the target and pull the trigger. Third, which can be seen in the instructions in question, the main principle is: "Trust in the Lord and not your weapon", so it may be expected that supernatural forces will eliminate jamming and guide the bullets. Practice shows that perpetrators who have used firearms tried to arrange for appropriate tools, though. For instance, when A. Breivik didn't manage to buy him- self a Kalashnikov on the black market, he did manage to purchase a semi-automat- ic Ruger Mini-14 and a Glock 34 legally. The already mentioned Omar Mateen was armed in a similar way; he used a Sig Sauer rifle and a Glock 17. Nidal Malik Hasan – the Fort Hood shooter – equipped himself with a Five SeveN and a lot of spare cartridges before the attack. It's rare to see firearms purchased legal- ly used in terrorist attacks. So far, the usual practice has almost always been to go for black-market weapons. The latter occurs typically in European conditions since the vast majority of those behind recent attacks are tied with criminal un- derworld, and often have a criminal re- cord already (which makes them unable to buy weapons legally). There are also cases of attacks on policemen or sol- diers, launched exactly in order to take their weapons away from them. In general, terrorists use short firearms, assault or semi-automatic rifles as they are easily-portable, easy to hide, and rel- ANALYSIS