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| Europe |
| Car Blast Kills Man Near Italian Synagogue |
| 2003-12-11 |
| A car exploded in northern Italy early on Thursday, killing the 33-year-old Kuwaiti driver in what police said appeared to be more of a suicide bid rather than an attack on a nearby synagogue. "We think we’re dealing with a suicide... It was more of an act of desperation than a subversive one," a policeman in Modena, northern Italy, told Reuters. "The man had shown uneasiness and problems relating to people in the past." Jordanian-born Al Catib Muhammad Shafir Ammay, who had Kuwaiti citizenship, set himself on fire about 5 a.m. Police approached, and the car, which ran on flammable liquid propane gas (LPG), exploded, police said. No one else was hurt. The blast blew out windows and garage doors of nearby buildings. Police said the car was parked on a small, side street about 50 to 80 meters (yards) from the synagogue’s main entrance. Probably just a suicide, or he may have been thinking about running the car into the synagogue and changed his mind when he saw the cops. We may know more after the investigation. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 Why would he want to bomb a synagogue at 4:45am? Probably not a jihadi or he would have done so on the Sabbath. Berlusconi is one of the few Euro leaders cracking down on immigration from N Africa in Europe |
| Posted by: NotMikeMoore 2003-12-11 11:51:10 PM |
| #7 SH--They're not everywhere yet, but there are quite a few LP powered vehicles out there. When I was a student delivering for Domino's back in '94, we had a couple Domino's pickups powered by LP. Acceleration wasn't as good as conventional gas, but otherwise they ran fine. I notice a few CNG and LPG stickers on various vehicles now and then, so there are a few alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs) out there. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-12-11 4:24:03 PM |
| #6 I have seen forklifts powered by propane, but am surprised to learn of a production passenger car using propane as a fuel. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-11 3:59:41 PM |
| #5 spotted the Peugeot in flames I always look for the silver lining. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-11 3:17:02 PM |
| #4 More details, sounds like he was a lot closer to the synagogue than first stated: Police said the dead man was of Jordanian origin and attributed his death to emotional problems rather than an intent to attack the synagogue. The man apparently set fire to a tank of flammable liquid inside the car, which caused the main gas tank to explode, a police official in Modena, Cinzia Ricciardi, said in a telephone interview. The Italian news agency ANSA quoted the prefect of Modena, Italia Fortunati, as saying the man was known to public service agencies in Modena. "He was suffering from a depressive crisis; he was out of work," Fortunati told ANSA. "I repeat, it's a gesture of a desperate man." He could have been a desperate, incompetent, out of work jihadi want-a-be. Two policemen guarding the synagogue spotted the Peugeot in flames and tried to extinguish the blaze, but moved away just before it blew up, ANSA said. The blast, which occurred around 4:45 a.m., blew out some nearby windows, including several in the synagogue, and caused minor damage to the roof of the building. The car was parked beside a wall around the synagogue, and the blast blackened a portion of the wall. Parked right against the wall, huh? And you think he picked that spot at random? |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-12-11 1:55:11 PM |
| #3 Have they ruled out performance art as the cause yet? |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-12-11 11:31:46 AM |
| #2 Either that, or a jihadi going for the extra degree of difficulty... "Bah! Anyone can push a button! I'll set off the bomb by setting myself on fire!" |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-12-11 10:31:41 AM |
| #1 > We think we’re dealing with a suicide...It was more of an act of desperation than a subversive one < And that is exactly why Europe, and unfortunately Italy, are going down the tubes. Time to face reality my friends. |
| Posted by: g wiz 2003-12-11 9:45:18 AM |