ONe of the things that stroke more the investigators of the March 11th bombings in Madrid was how they were carried out. The fact that the bombs were detonated with mobiles was a “new” way of causing death. EL MUNDO has been making a very important journalist investigation about the “black holes” of the political and judicial investigation. Today they have published that ETA had made temporisers with mobiles back in 2002:
ETA had used mobile phones for terrorist attacks, but as a radio-command, But, the members of the Special Group for Deactivation of Explosives (GEDEX) of the Civil Guard localised in the apartment of the Piamonte St. some notes in esukera in which they described the proofs made by the Txirrita command to use the mobiles as temporizers, as the terrorists did in March 11th bombings.
The difference beetween the two classes is very easy to explain, although, it has several important consequences. When the mobiles is used as radio-command, what the terrorist want is that the bomb explodes after he makes a call. That means he has to be very near the place where it has to explode, because what he wants is to cause the maximum damage possible when the objective is near it. ETA has used them a lot against members of the Spanish Security Forces.
But if you use the mobile as temporizer, it is not necessary for the terrorist to be near the bomb. What the terrorist wants is to activate it without any interference (for example, the ones caused by machines used for inhibit frequency) in a pre-arranged momment. In this case, what it’s programmed is the alarm-clock (which it’s activated even when the mobile is off). So when the alarm goes on, it trasmit all the necessary energy to make the detonator explode. That is the way the culprits of Madrid bombings used the mobiles.
Several modified mobiles were found on 2002 and even a book with notes written in euskara, possibly by ETA terrorist Balbino Sánchez Olarra, who was electronic engineer. In the same register, Spanish Police found nearly 100 kilos of sodic clorate; 14 kilos of sulfur to make cloratite; 88 kilos of Tytadine Dynamite; 10 meters of detoning cable; 64 detonators and several temporisers. AND 3 MOBILE PHONES ALCATEL ONE TOUCH.
Even when they founded that, this information was kept hidden from the Judge. Even the Socialist Interior Minister, Rubalcaba, supported this idea in the Parliament, when was asked about the bombings.
Everything was discovered, though, by a report issued by Sánchez Manzano, from the Central Unity of Explosives’ Deactivation, who was sent last april to Judge Del Olmo.
This is the photo of the temporisers of ETA:
It’s written “Segurtasun Temporizadorea”, mark normally used by ETA in their temporisers.
Ex-Interior Minister Acebes has said that he was not informed about these facts.
Today we have been informed that the police found other temporiser, manipulated just teh way ETA did it. This time was in the house of Mohammed Almallah, one of the accused for the March 11th bombings who belonged to PSOE after the first time he was detained. In the summary of the March 11th bombings there are no mentions to this temporiser. In the same appartment was also obtained a notification from the Courts of Madrid issued to Maussili Kalaji, the policemen who freed the mobile phones of March 11th bombings, in a shop of his own.
Blogs treating this issue: Anghara, DOCE DOCE, zetapolleces, Apolo, Kickjor.
UPDATE: More photos:
The photo says: “the first image shows the manipulation on the mobile phone’s vibrator, for being able to weld the cables, while the second shows the perforation in the outer part to extract them and join them to the explosive. Both photos were taken by the Civil Guard“.
Mobil phone found in the Piamonte St. to Txirrita Command, prepared to be used as temporiser for bombs.
What conclusion do you want your readers to draw from all of this? All this tells me is that ETA may have tested the use of mobile phone alarms as a means of detonating a bomb – not really a surprising thing for an active terrorist group to have done. Probably there are other terrorist organisations that have tried the same test.
The temporisers ETA uses are of several classes. One of them, called ST -among others pointed at by Rubalcaba in his Parliamentary session about the bombings, when PP asked him about that-, was developed by ETA making some variations to the originals. This same model was the one found in Piamonte St (ETA, Madrid Command, 2002) and in the bag from Vallecas, the only bag recovered from March 11th bombings.
So, looks like they have sold them to the March 11th bombings’ perpetrators, at least, doesn’t it?
ST could just mean a timer made by STMicroelectronics? I haven’t seen anything about where the bombers bought their timers
Also, what’s your source for this timer being found in the Vallecas bag, the timer mentioned in your link was not found there?
Graeme:
About your first message: no, it was ST, from Segurtasum Temporizadoreak, as seen in the image. It was developed by ETA as it’s explained above.
About the second, I forgot to insert the link. You’re right. I will search for it. Thanks for the tip 😉
About the second it was NOT on the bag of Vallecas, but in the house of Almallah, the accused in 11m process -sorry, I wrote it yesterday-, who later belonged to PSOE and in which there were found the documents of Kalachi:
Because they made them, I add.
yes, but it was found in the search of a house, not in the bomb used in the March 11th attack
And your link says that the timer found was a ST 17 MEC 24 H INT/160 – that doesn’t sound like something home made does it? I doubt that ETA use model numbers even if they are capable of making timers – unless they have a catalogue!
We have:
1.- Eta is the only one who makes those detonators.
2.- ETA had been practising in 2002 with mobiles, which are perforated IN THE SAME manner as teh ones in 11-m:
“La manipulación de los etarras era idéntica a la del móvil de la mochila de Vallecas del 11-M”.
[that is why I fooled myself, it was the MOBILES which were the same manipulated. It’s true that other terrorists gruops can do it also, but IN THE SAME MANNER? At least it’s rare).
3.- There were those same detonators in the house of one of the accused of March 11th bombings.
For me it’s very clear.
Where does it say that? I cannot find it.
Anyway, Pedro J. yesterday in La Mañana:
You know, I normally do not hear La Mañana, I do not have time enough. But yesterday I heard it:
http://www.lamanana.com.es/index.php?/lamanana/escuchar/martes_27_de_junio_de_20065/
It is on the first five minutes, so you’re not going to listen to much shouts and bad humour from Federico.
You still haven’t produced any source that shows that ETA produced the timer, your links only say that they modified one. If I Google part of the description I get a significant number of links on commercially produced timers. Also, whilst happily admitting ignorance on the use of mobile phones in bombs – I guess that the manipulation the ETA commando did to the phone would very likely be similar to that of March 11th – because they were trying to achieve the same objective. It doesn’t demonstrate anything else.
Well in fact your quote in your comment above talks of “tipo de temporizadores”, not something that is made by ETA, only something that has been used by them and, importantly, not in bombs exploded using mobile phones as timers
I translated it wrongly he said, as the comment now says DESIGNED BY ETA. You can go and listen to it.
The model description of the timer is there in your link about the search of the property where it was found – from Libertad Digital, as is the reference to it being a type of timer. I’m more than happy to take your word for it that Pedro J states that it was designed by ETA, but unfortunately thats not any sort of proof – does it even state this anywhere in El Mundo?
Well, I do not have any reason to doubt of Pedro J. But looks like it was Casimiro García Abadillo who has told him that. Anyway, I know you are not very keen on Pedro J., but if he has said that it is because he knows it. Judge Del Olmo has asked for the summary of the Madrid Commando as a result, hasn’t he?
And the link also says that the box where the temporiser was archived, was labelled:
“Caja pequeña en que se lee temporizador: un temporizador sin marca del que salen tres cables”.
That marks can be a code of where to send the temporisers, or if they designed them, they can have some firms to do it.
Anyway, What I am saying is that there are rare things here. They can mean something or not. But it is very curoius how angry you sound. And when I tell you -after “you haven’t produce any link-, Pedro J said it, you just answer “I do not believe Pedro J.’s words“. Well, it’s you, not me. I do not have any reason for not believing him. If you have doubts write him, he can answer you.
Till someone proofs me the contrary, I am going to believe Pedro J.
Well this is the problem isn’t it – by inverting the standard of proof you say that its up to those who don’t believe it to prove its wrong. Can you prove to me that it wasn’t Pedro J that made the timer? Taking what was probably his original source, El Mundo and the article they published, I find the following:
“La denominación ST suele aplicarse, por parte de los expertos en desactivación de explosivos tanto de la Policía como de la Guardia Civil, a un tipo de temporizador que habitualmente utiliza ETA.”
a type of timer that ETA habitually uses – nothing about them making it or being the only ones who use it
“En su respuesta a las preguntas realizadas por la diputada del PP Alicia Castro al Gobierno sobre el 11-M, el Ministerio del Interior informó de que, entre los temporizadores usados por la banda ETA, se encuentran los denominados ST.”
Here we find that it is one of the timers that ETA uses, but still no reference to them making it, so we have to assume that Pedro J’s information did not come from his own newspaper.
Interesting – I did the search on El Mundo’s own website for ST and timers and was surprised to see a large quantity of links that have nothing to do with terrorism that refer to timers of all kinds. Doesn’t seem to me that ETA need to waste their time making them.
In summary what are we left with – a single timer that wasn’t used in the March 11th bombings, because they used mobile phones to detonate the bombs. All we can say based on the information available rather than speculation is that this timer is of a “type” used by ETA. Anyone who interprets this as meaning that ETA supplied material to the March 11th bombers is doing so without evidence to back it up.
Yes, you are right. I was going to write about this. But I am very busy today. 😦
Searching in http://www.congreso.es there is the statement made Rubalcaba (Interior Minister) in which he clearly says that ST is a “industrial temporiser”. So it is not designed by ETA -or at least NOTHING implies that-. Pedro J. was not right yesterday and, well, I do recognise that.
Anyway, Rubalcaba also says: “se comunica que el uso de teléfonos móviles por parte de la banda terrorista ETA, de los que se tiene conocimiento, ha sido como activador a distancia, no como temporizador.”
So he sustains that “the use of mobile phones od which have knowledge, by terrorist band ETA, has been as a detonators NOT AS TEMPORISERS.
And yes, we know that 2002, they had even a book of instructions about that AND mobiles with the same preparation as the one found in Almallah’s house.
And in 2000 looks like ETA (DONOSTI command) also used mobile phones as temporisers:
http://www.cityfmradio.com/noticia.asp?idnoticia=4166
I am not saying that Rubalcaba lied -in this- but that this statement is also false.
Anyway, as I said yesterday: is it logic to think that a problem of creativity -because to use that you must have your own knowledge, but that is not the only thing- is just resolved the same way by two different people? I really doubt it.
More data in English on 3/11 at:
http://11m.fondodocumental.com/a/viewtopic.php?t=599