A Low Blow

No telling what the TSA will come up with to counter this one. The shoe bomber caused us all to fork over our clod hoppers prior to boarding the plane. Now this..
If you see boxes of latex gloves at the airport security screening area, you just might want to reconsider driving to your destination. Then again, we should be used to it by now, Washington politicians have been doing this to us for years.

Steve
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


WASHINGTON -- There's a new al Qaeda terror technique that has American security experts pooping in their pants -- call it the "butt bomb."

A suicide bomber recently put himself next to a member of the Saudi royal family, having outwitted bomb-detection machines in the palace, to set off an explosion using a charge that had been hidden in his rectum.

The ass-assin, Abdullah Asieri, stashed a pound of explosives and a detonator inside his body in the attack on Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, head of counterterrorism for the kingdom, the Arab TV network Al Arabiya reported.


AFP/Getty
GRUESOME END: "Butt bomber" Abdullah Asieri (above) packed a pound of explosives up his rectum in a bid to kill Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef. The assassin killed only himself .

Bin Nayef was only slightly wounded in the attempt. The explosion, possibly detonated by a cellphone, killed the bomber.

The technique has astonished security experts, who warn that the United States isn't equipped to prevent the gross new form of terrorism -- and worry such bombers could make it aboard aircraft and blow themselves up mid-flight.

"Standard airport security is not going to detect that," said terror expert Steve Emerson. "You need a much more intrusive type of X-ray machine that can actually see inside body cavities."

In fact, many machines were calibrated to have less penetrating effects after protests that they allowed airport screeners to see images of people naked.

"They may have to calibrate it differently now to look at certain densities," said Emerson.

"It should definitely cause re-examination" of security tactics, Emerson added. "Because I've never seen that before. I've never heard of that before. The terrorists are always one step ahead of the counter-terrorists."

The Transportation Security Administration had no comment.

Initial reports by the Saudi Press Agency indicated that the bomber was carrying the explosives, but only later were the bomber's smuggling techniques revealed.

The tactic is similar to one drug smugglers have used for years -- getting "mules" to smuggle valuable cocaine and other drugs inside their bodies to dodge airport security.

The bomber was able to get himself in close proximity to Prince Bin Nayef by calling up and saying he wanted to turn himself in.

The bomber was searched several times before he got inside the prince's office in Jeddah, including going through metal detectors, according to reports.