FBI warns of suicide bombers

A lightly classified FBI intelligence bulletin circulated yesterday warns law enforcement agencies to be on the alert for attempted strikes by suicide bombers.

Although the FBI has no hard intelligence of specific plans, the bulletin was prompted by "a renewed concern" that anger at the U.S. over Iraq or Israel could bring the war to the homeland, reported Time magazine online.

"At the end the day, it's probably one of the simplest forms of attack, and it's one of the hardest to detect," a counterterror veteran told Time.

As Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reported in March, a document discovered during a recent Israeli army raid on some West Bank financial institutions found payrolls being prepared for terrorists trained to commit suicide attacks – not just in Israel but in the U.S. and Europe.

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The FBI circular, headlined "Possible suicide bomber indicators," warns local officers to look out for obvious signs of trouble – people wearing heavy, bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals, trailing wires from their jackets – as well, more subtle ones, such as tightly clenched fists, Time said.

The bulletin, distributed via the bureau's secure Law Enforcement Online Intranet, says someone who never shows his palms could be gripping a detonator rigged to go off when a button is released.

"If you shoot him, you're still not safe because his hands relax and the bomb explodes," says a counterterrorism official, according to Time.

Suicide bombers might disguise themselves in stolen military, police or firefighter's uniforms, or even as pregnant women, the bulletin warns.

Time said with the sizeable presence of terrorist groups, such as Hamas, U.S. analysts cannot explain why the homeland has not seen suicide attacks.

One factor may be terrorists don't want to antagonize moderate Muslim donors, a specialist says. Another reason is the many youth in the Middle East willing to become "martyrs" simply cannot get visas to the U.S.

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