RDX, Bagong Sandata Ng Terorismo Sa Pilipinas

MAKATI CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 20, 2007) – Nahaharap sa panibagong panganib ang bansa matapos ng madugong atake sa Glorieta Mall sa Makati City na kung saan ay 9 na katao ang nasawi at 129 iba pa ang sugatan.

RDX ang nakitang kemikal na ginamit sa pagpapasabog sa Glorieta, ayon sa pulisya.

Posibleng ito ang kauna-unahang kemikal na ginamit sa atake sa bansa, maliban sa ginamit ng al-Qaeda operative na si Ramzi Yousef ng pasabugin nito ang dalang kemikal sa loob ng PAL flight patungong Tokyo nuomng December 1994.

Sa bomba ni Yousef ay liquid nitroglycerin ang pangunahing sangkap nito at naipuslit sa PAL Flight 434 gamit ang maliit na bote ng contact lens cleaner.Ngunit mas matindi ang RDX – na ang ibiog sabihin ay Research Department composition X – na pangunahing sangkap sa mga pampasabog ng gamit ng mga international terrorists.

Kalimitang inihahalo ito sa TNT at ginagamit rin sa C4 plastic explosives. RDX rin ang ginamit ng al-Qaeda at grupong Lashkar-e-Toiba sa madugong atake sa Bombay sa India nuong March 1993 na ikinamatay ng mahigit 300 katao at pagkasugat naman ng halos 1,500.

Gayun rin sa mga serye ng pambobombang naganap nuong July 2006 sa Mumbai Western Railway na ikinamatay ng 209 katao at pagkasugatan ng 700 iba pa.

Talamak sa India, Saudi Arabia at Afghanistan ang RDX dahil sa matinding puwersa nito sa paggawa ng bombang gamit ng terorista.

Malaki ang hinalang kagagawan ng mga al-Qaeda o Jemaah Islamiya ang pagsabog sa Glorieta, ngunit matindi rin ang bintang na posibleng pakana ito ng mga nasa pamahalaan o militar upang iligaw ang isyu ng bribery ng Malakanyang sa mga mambabatas at gobernador nitong linggo.

Ngunit itinanggi naman ito ng pamahalaan at sinabing hindi kayang gawin ng sinumang nasa gobyerno ang bintang.

Unang pinagsuspetsahan ang Moro Islamic Liberation Front sa atake ngunit walang RDX sa arsenal ng MILF, maliban sa mga mortar bombs. At gayun rin sa Abu Sayyaf na ang tanging gamit sa atake ay mortar bomb at TNT at ammonium nitrate.

Matindi ang bigat ng hinala sa al-Qaeda at Jemaah Islamiya dahil sa kakayahan nitong maglunsad ng malaking pambobomba ng tulad sa Bali resort sa Indonesia nuong 2002 at iba pang lugar sa Afghanistan. Ang RDX ang kalimitang gamit ng al-Qaeda sa kanilang pambobomba, ngunit mas nakakatakot umano ang paggamit nito bilang detonator sa isang nuclear bomb.

Posibleng mga Pilipino o Indonesian o kaya ay Malaysian na miyembro ng dalawang grupo ang nasa likod ng Glorieta bombing, ayon pa sa ilang mga intelligence analysts. (Mindanao Examiner)

Taliban Kill 5 Western Soldiers In Afghanistan: Reuters

KABUL, Afghanistan - Five Western soldiers, including three Americans, were killed in a string of Taliban attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

The Americans were killed along with two Afghan soldiers in a Taliban ambush on Monday in Ghazi Abad district of eastern Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, the district police chief told reporters.

NATO officials in Kabul said earlier that two soldiers had been killed while on patrol Sunday, one in an attack in eastern Afghanistan and the other in the south.

NATO did not identify the victims.

However, the Netherlands' military said a Dutch soldier had been killed overnight by a bomb in southern Afghanistan.

It said the 30-year-old sergeant was in a unit searching for explosives in the province of Uruzgan when an improvised device exploded, Chief of Staff Dick Berlijn told a televised news conference. A 23-year-old corporal was wounded, Berlijn said.

The Netherlands has about 1,700 troops in Afghanistan.

Violence has surged in the past 19 months in Afghanistan where more than 100 Western troops under the command of NATO and the U.S. military have been killed this year while fighting a renewed Taliban-led insurgency.(Reuters)

Afghan, U.S. Forces Assault Al-Qaeda In Tora Bora: Reuters

KABUL, Afghanistan - United States and Afghan air and ground forces pounded al-Qaeda militants for a second day on Thursday in the Tora Bora mountains close to the Pakistan border where Osama bin Laden once fled in the wake of the 2001 invasion.

The steep slopes of the mountains are riddled with cave and tunnel complexes built by Afghan and Arab fighters during the 1980s struggle against the Soviet occupation and provide an ideal hideout for guerrilla fighters.

"It is a joint operation conducted by Afghan and U.S. forces, divided by ground and air assets," said Captain Vanessa Bowman, spokeswoman for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

"Afghan and U.S. forces engaged al Qaeda and other violent extremist fighters in the eastern Afghanistan region in Tora Bora," she said, adding that the operation began on Wednesday.

Pakistan has deployed a "limited number" of regular army troops in Kurram tribal region in its side of the Tora Bora range, a security official said.

"It has been done over the past three days and it was done in coordination with allied forces in Afghanistan," he said. "We have made all arrangements to block any infiltration of militants from the other side. So far there has been no attempt of any infiltration."

Afghan media quoted local government officials as saying some 50 militants had been killed in the fighting so far and up to 100 families had fled the region.

"I personally don't have any casualty reports at this time, but we do know that there have been substantial casualties," Bowman said.

Aid organizations had suspended projects in the Tora Bora region, said a Western security official in the city of Jalalabad, some 50 km (30 miles) north of the mountains.

"We see a lot of air activity going towards that region, it looks like its quite intense today," he said.

Three coalition soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the Khogiani district near Tora Bora on Sunday and a U.S. base in the area also came under rocket attack in the last few days.

U.S. soldiers and Afghan militia forces launched a major assault on Tora Bora in late 2001 in pursuit of al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, who was thought to be hiding in the mountain range after the toppling of the Taliban government.

But U.S. military leaders allowed the Afghan militiamen to spearhead the assault and bin Laden managed to escape.

Al Qaeda forces and their Taliban allies use the rugged and semi-lawless border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan to plan, train and launch attacks in both countries.(Reuters)