1993 lessons

[karlos]

1993: Bombing of the World Trade Centre




The World Trade Center became established as a prime target for terrorist attacks by the 1993 garage bombing, which a 1500-pound urea-nitrate bomb, packed in a van carved out a multi-story crater in the garage, and killed six people while injuring over one thousand subjected to toxic smoke.As in the 9/11/01 attack, the FBI was extremely prompt in identifying the suspect. They arrested Mohammed A. Salameh and his friend Nidal Ayyad days after the attack, based on a fragment of metal at the scene traced back to a Ford Econoline rental van. The behavior of the FBI's prime suspect Salameh was not that of the typical bomber. He reported the van stolen the day before the bombing to both the police and the rental agency, and went to the rental agency the day of the attack to attempt to retrieve his $400 deposit.

In the course of the trial it was revealed that the FBI had an informant, a former Egyptian army officer named Emad A. Salem. Salem claims to have informed the FBI of the plot to bomb the towers as early as February 6, 1992. Salem's role as informant allowed the FBI to quickly pinpoint the conspirators out of the hundreds of possible suspects. Salem, initially believing that this was to be a sting operation, claimed that the FBI's original plan was for Salem to supply the conspirators with a harmless powder instead of actual explosive to build their bomb, but that the FBI chose to use him for other purposes instead. He secretly recorded hundreds of hours of telephone conversations with his FBI handlers.