Terrorism, mines and propaganda
Usually, the work of special services, aimed at the elimination of potential terrorist attacks, does not enjoy wide publicity and the public has to be content with only dry statistics. In early April-month at RIA News A press conference was held with the participation of the leadership of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee. In its course, several facts from the current situation in the field of improvised explosive devices used by terrorists were told. First of all, it is worth noting that the threat of terrorist attacks, although it has become noticeably smaller, still remains serious, primarily due to the fact that the failure of the special services will cause injuries and even death of innocent people. Therefore, the employees of the FSB, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense have to work hard. The overall results of this work over the past year look very successful. Thus, more than ten relatively large workshops that manufactured improvised explosive devices were identified and eliminated. In total, more than five hundred explosive devices and about 400 tons of various explosives were seized and destroyed. Considering how many victims and destructions could cause all this amount of hellish machines, one can imagine how useful the work of the special services turned out to be for the country.
However, it is not so easy for investigators, operatives, and explosives engineers to work. This is especially true of the latter. Advisor to the Chairman of the NAC A. Przhezdomsky complained at a press conference that the bandits recently began using a new type of explosive device. In appearance, it is a small metal ball. Inside it are charge, fuse and a small electrical circuit. Such "surprises" are installed most often on cars with the help of magnets. Due to the shape and size to detect such an explosive device is quite difficult. In addition, even with successful detection, people's lives continue to be endangered. Several specimens of a spherical mine got into the hands of FSB experts and it turned out to be a very, very unpleasant feature of it. The fact is that it reacts to any movements, vibrations, etc. In other words, the cocked mine explodes when the driver of the car starts the engine, starts moving, or simply opens the door. Of course, when disposing of such a handicraft explosive device, remarkable accuracy is required.
Novelties of this kind do not surprise workers of the special services. Any new construction of a self-made mine, put on stream, eventually gets to the experts-explosives and they carefully study it. According to the results of the study, the weak points of the mine are being investigated and recommendations for its neutralization are being developed. Needless to say, in response to this, terrorists have to invent and master new constructions. The circle closes and almost real arms race turns out, even if only one side is arming. And this is a global trend.
Exactly the same global trend is the attempts of terrorists (and far from always unsuccessful) to recruit still civilians into their ranks with the help of propaganda. Often, the most simple, but more intelligible slogans are used, in particular of a religious nature. Thanks to these actions, terrorists manage not only to increase their numbers, but even to prepare ready for all suicide bombers. Thus, in addition to identifying and eliminating explosive devices already planted, as well as searching for workshops for their production, the work of the special services should also be aimed at preventing the replenishment of terrorist formations. According Przhezdomsky, in this direction are active work.
I am glad that the forces of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee are aimed at several areas at once. This is probably why in the six years of its existence, members of the NAC intelligence services found and eliminated more than 1300 gangster bases, caches and workshops, and the amount of explosive devices and explosives seized is thousands and hundreds tons, respectively. Hopefully, in the future, successful work of the NAC will continue, and news reports will finally disappear from reports of terrorist attacks and only news will appear about their prevention.
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