Why pressure cookers make such deadly explosive devices
A suspicious device found in New York City may be an improvised explosive device made from a household pressure cooker, according to early reports from local law enforcement.
Police retrieved the device on Saturday night on West 27th Street in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. Nearby, on West 23rd Street, an explosion injured 29 people, all of whom have since left the hospital, NYPD confirmed Sunday.
SEE ALSO:Pressure cooker device removed from NYC street after robot inspects itLaw enforcement sources told reporters that the device on West 27th Street resembled the pressure cooker bombs used in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings in 2013.
NYPD has not officially confirmed any details about the device, except to say that the Bomb Squad is analyzing the package at a "secure NYPD facility in the Bronx," the department said Sunday afternoon.
A look at the pressure cooker recovered on 27th St. four blocks from the #Chelsea explosion https://t.co/nf10q2dRw9 pic.twitter.com/m82QDVsLjN
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) September 18, 2016
In the kitchen, pressure cookers use an airtight lid to trap steam, which raises its cooking temperature to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) -- ideal for quickly cooking vegetables, meats or soup.
The devices can vary by brand and model, but all pressure cookers generally have the same three components: a pressure regulator, to control and maintain pressure inside the cooker; a vent pipe, which allows excess pressure to be released; and a sealing ring, which creates a pressure-tight seal between the lid and the body.
These otherwise benign appliances are somewhat easy to transform into deadly weapons, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security explained in a 2004 bulletin to federal and state security officials.
Instead of food, explosive materials such as TNT and dynamite are placed inside the pressure cooker. Next, nails, ball bearings or other shrapnel surround the explosive materials.
Using other common devices, such as digital watches, garage door openers or cell phones, a would-be bomber can remotely trigger an electrical charge, which in turn ignites the pressure cooker's explosive contents.
The ignition quickly expands until it blows open the cooker, spitting out shrapnel with the speed and force of bullets.
"The size of the blast depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount of explosive placed inside," according to the Homeland Security bulletin. Pressure cooker bombs "can be as simple or as complex as the builder decides."
The suspicious device on W27St was safely removed earlier this morning by NYPD Bomb Squad to a secure police facility.
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 18, 2016
Preliminary evidence of the device that exploded at West 23 Street suggests it was an improvised explosive device (IED)
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 18, 2016
Federal authorities said that in Afghan terrorist training camps, participants frequently learn how to convert pressure cookers into improvised explosive devices.
In a 2010 memo, Homeland Security said such rudimentary devices were used frequently in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, and occasionally in the United States and Europe. A failed 2010 bombing attempt in New York City's Times Square, for instance, involved a pressure cooker stuffed with 120 firecrackers.
Medical workers aid injured people following an explosion at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston.Credit: AP Photo/Charles KrupaThree years ago in Boston, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted pressure cookers filled with shrapnel near the Boston Marathon finish line.
The explosions killed three people and injured at least 264 others.
George Velmahos, chief of trauma surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, said all of the victims had "10, 20, 30, 40 pieces of shrapnel embedded in their bodies, mostly in their legs, but as high up as their necks," USA Today reported at the time.
Thankfully, nobody was killed by Saturday night's explosion in New York City.
-
Elon Musk's AI facility is reportedly operating gas turbines without a permit数字宝兴 那些振奋人心的数字租来的房子 当成自己的卖平淡中出奇玄妙里生花Apple Intelligence is now a little easier to get outside the U.S.天气转凉 秋季水果唱“主角”天全县人民检察院以《警示与镜戒》为教材开展专题警示教育活动强化援建工作督促检查 确保援建决策部署落到实处Michael Cohen fights Donald Trump at the Supreme Court.雅安市田家炳中学“思源·金蝶教育移民班”开班
下一篇:Apple iPod: The First 10 Years of the Ubiquitous Media Player
- ·厚植精神文明沃土 培树司法文明新风
- ·排除事故隐患 做好中秋、国庆交通事故预防工作
- ·关节炎患者如何做好自我保健
- ·讨人厌还不安全 刻意开慢车 确实要不得
- ·Students get free entry at second Rawalpindi Test but what’s the catch?
- ·瓜果飘香 汉源邀您品果尝“甜头”
- ·首付一成可买房?暂时还是个传说
- ·平淡中出奇玄妙里生花
- ·评论丨农事运动会:一场农民的盛会、新农人风采展现的盛会、城乡双向奔赴的盛会
- ·提升茶叶品质 跃华从源头抓起
- ·数字宝兴 那些振奋人心的数字
- ·来考古!#广东乡村歌手大赛海选舞台再现名场面,嗨翻全场!
- ·Prime exclusive deal: $50 off Govee floor lamp
- ·广东首个虾类国家农业产业强镇!新会区大鳌镇!
- ·最好新秋时,苦尽“油柑”来|不时不食·处暑
- ·提升茶叶品质 跃华从源头抓起
- ·Travel Back in Time and Uncover Old
- ·广东“美味”入新疆,梅州市送来甜蜜“柚”惑!
- ·超燃来袭!中山市“南头村BA”火热开幕!
- ·平淡中出奇玄妙里生花
- ·New image shows the North Star is changing. And it has spots.
- ·抓好三个环节 确保有特色有水平参加西博会
- ·最好新秋时,苦尽“油柑”来|不时不食·处暑
- ·排除事故隐患 做好中秋、国庆交通事故预防工作
- ·Echo Dot (5th gen) deal — get it for $29.99 at Amazon
- ·我市27个儿童安全体验教室和18个儿童安康图书馆启动使用