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| Korea |
| 134 dead in Tube attack |
| 2003-02-18 |
| An arson attack on an underground train in South Korea today killed at least 134, injured 136 and trapped dozens more in carriages filled with choking smoke. It is feared the death toll could rise, as fire officials said 99 people are still missing. As many as 600 passengers were on board the train when the fire started at around 10am. In the attack in the southern city of Taegu a man in a tracksuit set light to a milk carton filled with flammable liquid. "The man kept flicking a lighter and an old man told him to stop," he said. "The man dropped the lighter and the train caught fire. Several young men seized him, but the fire spread and black smoke rose. Then everyone rushed out." Except for the ones who were killed... Police were later questioning Kim Dae-han, 46, who was shown on Korean television being treated by nurses in hospital. He sat frowning on a ward bed, his face and hands smeared with soot. It quickly emerged that the arrested man has a psychiatric history. "It is not known what motivated him but we believe he is mentally ill," said police chief Suh Hyonsoo. "He is known to have been treated at a mental hospital." So now explain to me the difference between an act of lunacy and an act of terrorism... Oh, yeah. That's it. Terrorists have a support network to do this kind of thing. Lunatics do it in isolation. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #7 Philipps post"...al quedas inability to mount an attack...."They haven't struck in US since 9/11 because they haven't wanted to.They will strike after Iraq starts,thereby leading the useful idiots to deduce that the US foreign policy created the latest mass murder by the Islamomaggots,just as 9/11 itself was the US' fault... |
| Posted by: Hugh Jorgan 2003-02-18 23:13:26 |
| #6 Apparently two trains were involved, so I'd guess at least part of one was stuck in the tunnel. The electricity was cut off and some who got out had to break train windows. I've seen footage of the gutted train doors still closed. Guy who did it (allegedly) looks like a nut, was in hospital looking well but tied to his bed. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-02-18 19:05:27 |
| #5 This is a shot in the dark, but a good carton of gasoline can get alot of plastic burning in the subway cars, which will produce lots of toxic smoke. We do not know the details, like the action of the doors on the cars. If there were problems, people would be confined and would suffocate on the smoke. This is all pure speculation and we will just have to see what is found in the investigation. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-02-18 17:45:22 |
| #4 That "minimal weaponry" has me wondering. What kind of stuff fits in a milk carton, yet is so powerful that it's killed more than 130 people? Note that it wasn't just that one carriage affected, but several. A couple of articles I've seen mention fires, but that seemed to be a supposition on the part of people who weren't there. This is all about "choking smoke", not fire. Hmm... |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2003-02-18 12:35:08 |
| #3 PP, Among Al Qaeda's numerous failings, I think one of their worst is that they are enamored of their press clippings. The explosions have to be bigger and better than ever. Good help is hard to find, so they can't go wasting their English-speaking, able to blend in folks on small stuff like subway fires. Allah demands great things of the jihadi! Or something like that. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2003-02-18 12:18:43 |
| #2 Another example of somebody using minimal weaponry to inflict an incredible amount of damage. What does this say about al-Qaida's inability to mount any operation of note within the U.S. since 9-11? |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2003-02-18 11:55:56 |
| #1 Regardless... I smell the odor of an NKor. The NKors are behind a bunch of the protests in the South. They regularily try to infiltrate agents. This would make sense as one of their actions. Richard Reid is a nut job, too. But he had lots of help with his sneakers. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-02-18 11:35:46 |