Bomb Found Under Paris Tracks

[Aaron]

Looks like trains have become the new target of choice for terrorists.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/24/wo ... bomb040324

[The Albino Raven]

Seems like they are popular among all different types of terror groups too. Very interesting, I wonder why they were never targets before?

[General Zod]

Seems like they are popular among all different types of terror groups too. Very interesting, I wonder why they were never targets before?

there was a highly publicized subway station attack in Japan a few years back, as i recall.

[salm]

Seems like they are popular among all different types of terror groups too. Very interesting, I wonder why they were never targets before?

the london subways have been targets of bombings for decades.

[Darth Wong]

Thousands of miles of largely unsecured track = juicy opportunity.

[Aaron]

Seems like they are popular among all different types of terror groups too. Very interesting, I wonder why they were never targets before?

there was a highly publicized subway station attack in Japan a few years back, as i recall.

That was the one where Sarin gas was used wasn't it?

[The Albino Raven]

there was a highly publicized subway station attack in Japan a few years back, as i recall.

Was that a bombing, or are you referring to the Sarin attack by those cultists?

the london subways have been targets of bombings for decades.

Being the ignorant american that I am, how many successful london subway bombings have there been, as I have never heard of them.

[TheDarkling]

Being the ignorant american that I am, how many successful london subway bombings have there been, as I have never heard of them.

Boston funded Freedom Fighters at work.

[The Albino Raven]

Well then, negate my first statement about them being a NEW idea.

[Howedar]

there was a highly publicized subway station attack in Japan a few years back, as i recall.

That was the one where Sarin gas was used wasn't it?

Yeah, a couple of thousand people would have died if the terrorists hadn't fucked up.

[General Zod]

i was referring to the sarin gas attack, yeah. though there isn't any real preferred method for terrorists. despite the fact that bombings seem to be always popular.

[Nathan F]

Just shows that it doesn't matter what your stance on the different wars have been, if you're non-muslim (or not a muslim that lives up to their standards), then you're a target.

[EmperorMing]

There were some incidents on Amtrack railways some few years back that made the news. It was in the western states iirc.

Suposedly the tracks did not have bombs, but were sabatoged to make the train derail at speed.

[Bob McDob]

The Sarin Gas guy got death a month back or so. I wasn't even aware Japan had the death penalty.

Anyway, I'm pretty surprised this wasn't bigger news.

[Rogue 9]

Being the ignorant american that I am, how many successful london subway bombings have there been, as I have never heard of them.

Boston funded Freedom Fighters at work.

Ah yes, the famous Boston IRA "fundraisers." Tell you what, I'll deck the next one that tries to hit me up. (My family's mostly drawn from Irish stock, and it happens every now and then.) I've been itching to do that anyway. Fools want me to help fund their efforts to kill each other and destroy Ireland...

[TheDarkling]

Just shows that it doesn't matter what your stance on the different wars have been, if you're non-muslim (or not a muslim that lives up to their standards), then you're a target.

Interesting that you conclude that this is Muslim terrorism, Europe has had other forms of terrorism before the current US preoccupation with Muslim terrorism and still does.

[General Zod]

Just shows that it doesn't matter what your stance on the different wars have been, if you're non-muslim (or not a muslim that lives up to their standards), then you're a target.

you do realize that not all terrorist groups are muslim, right? or were you just referring to the specific al qaeda attacks?

[Sea Skimmer]

Seems like they are popular among all different types of terror groups too. Very interesting, I wonder why they were never targets before?

You seem to be way behind the times. Russia has had a number of trains and subways bombed just in the last couple months, the IRA bombed British subways and railways many times, Sarin nerve gas was released in the Tokyo subway killing 11 and injuring over 5000 (most of who would have died had the chemical been properly), the Netherlands had a train hijacked and held hostage in 1977...the list goes on and will pass into the tens of thousands if we count trains attacked during sustained resistance or sabotage campaigns during wartime.

Even being an ignorant American isn't an excuse since Amtrak's Sunset Limited train was derailed in 1995 by sabotage with one person killed and seventy-seven injured.

Railways have always been easy targets and have always been attacked. Neither fact is going to change. Tracks are absurdly vulnerable, a bomb that you can hold in your palm and would do little in the open air will easily break a track, and you only need a simple detonator to set it off as the train rolls over. But with very simple tools you can simply dislodge a section of rail, this is what was done to the Sunset Limited, the spikes holing down one rail where pulled out but the rail wasn't broken until the train hit it at 50mph. Then we have the trains themselves, they're compact and full of hiding spaces and since most passenger trains in developed nations are commuter, the speed and shear volume of people who must pass through makes screening basically impossible. It really not even worth trying, it would just drive people away from trains and cost billions while offering little defence. Some things just must be endured, and that is the ultimate defence against terrorists.