FBI Denies University Bomber Tied to Terrorism ('At this time' qualifier used again)
CNS News ^ | 10/11/05 | Nathan Burchfiel
(CNSNews.com) - The head of the FBI investigation of a suicide bombing at an Oklahoma University football game said the investigation has yielded no information tying the bomber to terrorist activities, in spite of Internet reports to the contrary.
Oklahoma University police requested FBI assistance in the investigation due to the nature of the Oct. 1 bombing outside Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, which killed the bomber, student Joel Henry Hinrichs III, but apparently injured no one else.
In the week since the bombing, Internet reports have suggested that Hinrichs, a 21-year old engineering major, had ties to terrorism, including visiting the same Norman, Okla., mosque that Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., attended. Moussaoui never boarded the planes. Instead, he was arrested, pleaded guilty to conspiring with the 19 terrorist hijackers and could eventually face the death penalty.
The Internet-based Northeast Intelligence Network (NIN) reports that "confidential sources" have reported that more bomb-making materials and "jihad materials" were found in Hinrichs' university apartment and that there is a "money trail" between Hinrichs and a radical Islamist terror cell in Norman.
Norman Police have confirmed that Hinrichs was briefly investigated days before the bombing when he tried to purchase ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Ammonium nitrate is the same chemical used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and killed 168 people.
NIN Director Douglas Hagmann declined to comment on the identity of his sources, but told Cybercast News Service that he knows "who the confidential sources are and we have faith in them because of their proximity to the investigation."
He added that his group has "verified many of their statements through other channels." Hagmann said the sources approached his group but are less willing to talk after internal pressure has threatened those who leak information to the press.
News reports have said the material used in Hinrichs' bomb is known as triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and is the same material used in the July train bombings in London. It is also the same chemical used by Richard Reid in his foiled shoe-bombing attempt in 2001. Jihadists refer to the volatile chemical as "Mother of Satan."
FBI agent Gary Johnson, who is heading the investigation from the bureau's Oklahoma City office, declined to confirm or deny that TATP was used in the bombing or was found in the subsequent search of Hinrichs' apartment.
The search lasted at least 24 hours but no information has been released concerning what investigators actually discovered -- Hagmann's confidential sources report finding TATP and "jihad materials" on his computer - because the search warrant was sealed by the Department of Justice.
When asked if NIN's reports are consistent with the FBI investigation, Johnson said, "No," then added, Well okay the stuff that's found in his apartment, I can't comment on [be]cause it's part of a search warrant that's sealed.
"As this time," he said, "there is no known link between Hinrichs and any terrorist or extremist organization group or activity or activities." Johnson said the investigation is ongoing.
Hagmann said that aside from the information his website reports, the facts released by the FBI raise questions. "If this is nothing more than a lone suicide bomber," he asked, "why would [Hinrichs] do so where he did and how he did it?"
In a press conference after the bombing, Oklahoma University President David Boren said Hinrichs had "what I would call emotional difficulties in the past." He said there is "no evidence at this point which points to any other kind of motivation other than his personal problems."
Dr. Ronald Maris, director of the Suicide Center at the University of South Carolina, said he was reluctant to comment on the case because he did not know the details, but said that usually when people commit suicide with a bomb, there are "other motives.
"The vast majority of people either shoot themselves or hang themselves," Maris said. "Usually when there's bombings it involves other people and involves political motivation."
Various reports, including those on the NIN web site, have alleged that Hinrichs attempted to enter the stadium before detonating the bomb outside.
Johnson would not confirm whether the security guards had been interviewed regarding the purported attempt by Hinrichs to enter, but said investigators have "a really good idea" about whether he tried to gain access.
The Oklahoma City area has a history of connection to terrorism, according to author Jayna Davis. Davis wrote the book "The Third Terrorist," which argues that Murrah building bomber Timothy McVeigh had connections to Arab terrorists.
In 1989, Davis wrote, Osama bin Laden's spiritual mentor Abdul Azam spoke in Oklahoma City advocating the killing of infidels, Jews and Christians. He was joined, she said, by Khaleed Mashaal, the chief of the political arm of Hamas.
In 1995 before the Murrah building attack, Davis said bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, visited Oklahoma City.
According to the congressional report on the 9/11 attacks, Oklahoma City was also where bin Laden's chief pilot received his flight training. |
