Dirty Bombs or Nuclear Devices in Terrorist Arsenal

 

Planting mine necklaces on adversary’s approaches to cause casualties, impose delay and impede his mobility is an accepted concept. Terrorists, nowadays use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to inflict casualties on men and material passing through roads/ highways to unleash terror and violence. Counter measures such as combing, sanitisation and road clearance operations, which become essential, are a constant drain on security organizations. In today’s security dynamics, terrorists are forever on the lookout for new tactical innovations. Security forces too, must think faster, read what is on terrorists’ mind, force him to react and beat him in his own game. 

 

It needs no mind mapping to understand terrorists’ thirst for sensational news to hog media attention and  for sporting new acquisitions in his arsenal, such as :-

(a) Improvised nuclear device (IND), a form of crude nuclear bomb from either highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium. Both materials are available in any quantity in peaceful nuclear energy programs around the world. Credible threat of its use is enough to bargain for release of detained comrades.

(b)  Dirty bomb made from radioactive material using RDX, detonators and timers to cause explosion. Radioactive isotopes such as Americium 241 and Iodine 125, Cesium137, Radon 222, Radium 226, Iodine 125, Iridium192, Cobalt 60 and Gold 198 are easily available in hospitals for treatment of cancer and other diseases. 

 

Use of nuclear materials in both IED and IND is possible. IED explosion using radioactive material, for polluting nuclear radiation, requires no technical expertise. Compromised insiders, officials/ technicians, whose integrity has been subverted by their sympathy to the terrorist ideology/ cause, exist in both India and Pakistan. Possession of nuclear materials with banned outfits such as Indian Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and their mentors (ISI) with the avowed aim to cause widespread disruption, create panic and impose financial liability in decontamination, is likely.

 

Actions of a highly motivated and well-trained terrorist group could be as follows:-

(a) Infiltrate small teams of two or three persons away from targeted area from above named organizations, well in advance of the strike. 

 

(b) Strong financial back up for teams to commence spadework for executing operations. Selection of high value targets in our four/ five metros would then follow. Suicide bombers and decoys may be selected, if necessary   and compensated in advance. Fabrication of the dirty bomb would be done last.

 

(c) Study target area to include places of maximum assembly during peak hours, friendly population and vulnerabilities is very essential. Shopping complexes like vegetable mandis, colony markets and retail outlets, places of historic interest, and religious significance, cinema halls, metro/ local train stations and selected high-rise government buildings/ corporate offices, would be ideal targets. 

 

(d) Transportation of dirty bomb in food containers by fast food hawkers on bicycle/ rickshaws in these areas.

 

(e) Timing of the operation is extremely important. Periods of national elections, public/ religious festivals and national calamities such as floods and earthquakes are ideal. Detonation of the IED in accordance with a well-conceived plan by suicide bombers or ex filtration follows next.

 

(f) Normally 2 to 3 kg RDX, detonators and initiators fully wired in with the radioactive capsule would be placed in various piped segments of bicycle/ rickshaw and container. Iron pellets/ ball bearings, nails, nuts and bolts would also be a part of the container. Intensity of blast would be enough to cause death and grievous injuries in 200 yards area. 

 

(g) IED blast with radioactive materials releases energy, which may spread radioactivity beyond 200 yards. Pollution of radioactivity may spread to almost 100 kilometres by winds, posing a threat to human life for decades. Ignorant public may mistake radioactivity as detonation of a nuclear bomb. 

 

What should be the counter measures against use of dirty bombs? A prerequisite of all anti-terrorist operations is good intelligence under a single head, normally the head of police, who should coordinate working of all agencies. Good intelligence must be real time and continuous. Sources cultivated around possible target areas need to be protected. Sometimes, alert beat policemen and police control vans may provide actionable intelligence on criminal elements and known terrorist organizations.

 

Threatened areas need to be classified. Priority I areas where threat is imminent, must be under constant surveillance. Priority II and III are those which need lower levels of surveillance. Defence establishments involved in production of explosives and industrial units in production of chemicals, pesticides and insecticides should come under surveillance net, so would all test laboratories and research centres producing radioisotopes. Hospitals and research centres indenting for radioisotopes must account for each item indented and utilized by name.

 

Positioning mobile anti-terrorist forces with secure communications at the target area before strike or soonest thereafter, to be able to influence the outcome of the terrorist strike, can be crucial. Selected personnel must be highly motivated, armed with lightweight automatics and be specially trained for these duties. The team must include bomb disposal and decontamination personnel from army engineers, trained dogs with handlers and be equipped with latest walkie-talkie sets, bulletproof vests/ body armour and requisite sensors for detection of radioactivity. Overall coordination between civil administration and security forces and the local army units must be ensured. Open sessions/ capsule lessons/ seminars to educate the public on nuclear/ dirty bombs are necessary. Leaflets/ flyers must be sent out to correct any wrong notions on the spread of radioactivity.

 

In the present security environment, IED induced radioactivity may be next on the terrorist wish list. Pro-active response at national level is required to defeat terrorist game plan. Better surveillance on known terrorist organizations and their movement is called for. Provision of surveillance cameras and improved access control systems must be made mandatory in all shopping malls, high-rise buildings, public and religious places.

 

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views either of the Editorial Committee or the Centre for Land Warfare Studies)