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A letter bomb [lower-alpha 1] is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber. Some countries have agencies whose duties include the interdiction of letter bombs and the investigation of letter bombings. [1] The letter bomb may have been in use for nearly as long as the common postal service has been in existence, as far back as 1764 (see Examples ).
Letter bombs are usually designed to explode immediately on opening, with the intention of seriously injuring or killing the recipient (who may or may not be the person to whom the bomb was addressed). A related threat is mail containing unidentified powders or chemicals, as in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
One of, if not the first, groups to consistently use letter bombs on a wide scale were the British suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union in the years before the First World War. [2] The group were the original inventors of a form of letter bomb designed to maim or kill politicians or opponents. [2] In 1913, numerous letter bombs were sent to politicians such as the Chancellor David Lloyd George and Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, but they invariably all exploded in post offices, post boxes or in mailbags while in transit across the country. [3] Suffragettes also once attempted to assassinate a judge they considered to be anti-women's suffrage, Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett, with a "deadly" letter-bomb made partly out of bullets, but the bomb was intercepted by London postal workers before it could reach him. [4]
Letter-bombs, along with anti-personnel mines, are typical examples of subject-matter excluded from patentability under the European Patent Convention, because the publication or exploitation of such inventions are contrary to the " ordre public " and/or morality (Article 53(a) EPC). [5]
A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device (IED) that uses a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively large explosion due to the containment causing increased pressure. The fragmentation of the pipe itself creates potentially lethal shrapnel.
Franz Fuchs was an Austrian domestic terrorist who killed four people and injured 15, some seriously, using three improvised explosive devices and 24 mail bombs, which he sent in five waves between 1993 and 1997.
John Patrick Tomkins is an American who was convicted of sending several threatening letters and bomb-like devices to financial firms in the Midwestern United States under the pseudonym The Bishop. A machinist and lifelong resident of Dubuque, Iowa, he is now serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison.
A bicycle bomb is an improvised explosive device that is placed on a bicycle.
This is a timeline of actions by the Irish republican paramilitary groups referred to as the Real Irish Republican Army and New Irish Republican Army. The Real IRA was formed in 1997 by disaffected members of the Provisional IRA. Since July 2012, when Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) and other small republican groups merged with it, the group has been called the New IRA; although it continues to call itself simply "the Irish Republican Army".
The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, also translated as Conspiracy of Fire Cells or Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, is an anarchist urban guerrilla organization based in Greece. The SPF first surfaced in January 2008, with a wave of 11 firebombings against luxury car dealerships and banks in Athens and Thessaloniki. Monthly waves of arson have been followed by proclamations expressing solidarity with arrested anarchists in Greece and elsewhere. In September 2009, following an escalation to the use of crude time bombs, four suspected members of the group were arrested. In November 2010 two more suspects were arrested while attempting to mail parcel bombs to embassies and EU leaders and organizations.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), from 1992 to 1999.
Louis Marius Schoon was a white anti-apartheid activist of Afrikaner descent. Marius died from lung cancer, after a long call from Nelson Mandela, thanking him for his sacrifice against the struggle.
The Austin serial bombings occurred between March 2 and March 21, 2018, mostly in Austin, Texas. In total, five package bombs exploded, killed two people and injuring another five. The perpetrator, 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, Texas, was pulled over by police on March 21. Conditt detonated an explosive inside his vehicle, killing himself and injuring a police officer.
This is a timeline of the events and actions during the Troubles that were carried out in Great Britain, the vast majority of which were carried out by Irish Republican paramilitaries mainly the Provisional IRA were by far the most active but both the Official IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army, also carried out a number of attacks, which included bombings and shootings. Ulster Loyalist paramilitary groups also carried out a small number of violent actions.
The Patnagarh Bombing was a bombing that took place in Patnagarh a Notified area Council of Bolangir District in Indian state of Odisha, on 23 February 2018. Soumya Sekhar Sahu, a 26 year old software engineer, and his great aunt, Jemamani Sahu, were killed by a parcel bomb delivered to Soumya's house few days after his wedding. Soumya's wife, Reema was seriously injured. After months of investigation, Police arrested a colleague of Soumya's mother whom she had replaced at the college where she taught.
From October 22 to November 1, 2018, 16 packages found to contain pipe bombs were mailed via the U.S. Postal Service to several Democratic Party politicians and other prominent critics of U.S. President Donald Trump. Targets included former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Suffragettes in Great Britain and Ireland orchestrated a bombing and arson campaign between the years 1912 and 1914. The campaign was instigated by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), and was a part of their wider campaign for women's suffrage. The campaign, led by key WSPU figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst, targeted infrastructure, government, churches and the general public, and saw the use of improvised explosive devices, arson, letter bombs, assassination attempts and other forms of direct action and violence.
In late November and early December 2022, a number of letter bombs were mailed to locations across Spain. Packages were received at high-profile individuals and locations, including the Prime Minister of Spain's Moncloa residence, the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies in Madrid, Torrejon Air Base, and the arms manufacturer Instalaza. One person was injured in the attacks—a security officer at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.
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