(Twitter)
Is the United States worrying about surgically implanted bombs? That is what ABC reported today in relation to the current al-Qaeda terrorist threat that led to the closure 19 embassies around the world.
The United States has made the decision to keep 19 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa closed for the rest of the week in light of recent terrorist threats. Many other western nations have followed suit in closing their embassies in the Middle East, especially on the Arabian Peninsula.
Information trickling from the government about the threat seems cryptic as of now but the State Department have advised, “an abundance of caution.” Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) on the Senate Intelligence Committee said the specifics about the attack threats are vague. He said:
What we have heard is some specifics on what’s intended to be done and some individuals who are making plans, such as we saw before 9/11. Whether they are going to be suicide vests that are used, or whether they’re planning on vehicle-borne bombs being carried into an area, we don’t know.
A security body scan. (Getty)
ABC added to the ambiguity yesterday when it reported that an unnamed “senior U.S. official” voiced the government’s concern that bombs surgically implanting into the body of a suicide bomber could be used in the current threatened attack. The source said, ““We are concerned about surgically implanted devices. These are guys who have developed the techniques to defeat our detection methods.”
In May 2012, The Daily Beast wrote about the rise of the “body bombs” which were being perfected by al Qaeda’s lead bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri.
The bombs are hard to detonate, but also fairly hard to detect. One government source told The Daily Beast in 2012 that the device could be inserted, “in the terrorists love handle.”
As of now the U.S. embassies are planned to reopen on Saturday August 10.
