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Text message blows up suicide bomber by accident
- sbierwagen 16y agoThat's why you buy a new pre-paid phone to use as the trigger.
- robotron 16y agoIt was most likely an automated "Happy New Years" message from her carrier.
- drdaeman 16y agoDon't know about other countries, but in Russia, mobile operators just love to SMS-spam you with tons of advertising. Even though they provide option to opt-out, but even then will still accidentally send messages. Some carriers even used to spam in USSD queries results, appending ads to useful information (like account balance). (Therefore I doubt it was New Year congratulations. Probably just an ad (may be New Year-themed, though))
- zyb09 16y agoJust use an Android phone and set up Tasker to trigger on a special keyword in the SMS, not just any SMS.
- chopsueyar 16y agoPrepaid Android phone or have them sign a two-year contract?
- guynamedloren 16y agoSo, does this make the one who sent the text message a murderer?
- ukdm 16y agoNope, it makes them a hero for saving so many lives and not putting a black mark on the New year celebrations that night in Red Square
- kurokikaze 16y agoMessage was sent by robot (automated congratulations from mobile operator). So, does this make it a murder of human by robot?
- ars 16y agoYou are probably joking, but if not, murder requires intent.
- ABrandt 16y agoManslaughter doesn't, however.
- grisha 16y agoSpam saving lives.
- swombat 16y agoBad business, though: they lost a customer.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoBut saved a dozen potential ones.
- tyng 16y agoSo the bombing at the airport wasn't an isolated incident, but a planned attack. What's the motive behind it? Why Russia?
- woodpanel 16y agothat's why http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War The chechnyan islamists have been terrorizing the area since the 1990s. they were the first ones that i know of, that used the 'force' of producing and distributing videos of 'peer' civlians getting beheaded.
- IgorPartola 16y agoThere are lots of examples of terrorist acts from the Chechen separatists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budyonnovsk_hospital_hostage_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budyonnovsk_hospital_hostage_cr..., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye_hostage_crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye_hostage_c... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings. The lesson Russia is failing to learn is that if you keep killing civilians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War#Human_rights_and_laws_of_war_violations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War#Human_rights_...) and calling it a war, the civilians will organize, fight back and fight dirty.
- woodpanel 16y agoI've thought the link to the first war would be good start for someone who had no clue about the story behind it ;-) It's true Russia has a lot of blood on it's hands. But I think each time, we excuse some cruelty with another cruelty from the past, we're just excusing the future ones.
- IgorPartola 16y agoI agree. There is no excuse for harming innocent bystanders, by either side. However, IMHO, the trick to peace is to make the other side not want to attack you (by a combination of "we'll fight back" and a peaceful attitude towards those not attacking). Russia is doing the opposite with its policy regarding Chechnia.
- schtono 16y agoWhy should she use a text-message for a belt bomb? Wouldn't a simple switch be sufficient? I don't think this is a credible source.
- dagw 16y agoRemote triggers on suicide bombs are not uncommon. Either in case the suicide bomber gets cold feet and can't push the button or so that a spotter with a better tactical view can trigger the bomb at the optimal moment.
- cma 16y agoIt also can be for quasi religious reasons, similar to the American practice of having several people throw the switch in an execution, with only one of the switches being live.
- jacquesm 16y agoAnd to remove the fact that you are committing suicide from your cosmic slate which may very well be against your religion.
- rickenharp 16y agoSo the plan is to get into heaven on a technicality?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- jacquesm 16y agoSo, how about sending a text message to every phone every 5 minutes. Vendors could agree on a message they will ignore that will just set off the vibration motor in the phone. You'd have to hack the firmware to get around that, which I would consider beyond the skills of most bomb makers, if not all of them. Of course it would take a few years to phase out all the old phones but you could then pretty much spot a potential bomber by checking the age of the IMEI.
- cryptoz 16y agoNo. Absolutely not. Are you being sarcastic? I would never buy a phone that vibrated every 5 minutes, that would drive me insane. That's yet another way to show that the terrorists win every single time. What better way to change the world than to force every single cell phone to annoy the bloody hell out of its user? Who needs to keep killing people when you're able to constantly and continuously annoy every single person in the Western world?
- steveplace 16y agoOr you could just equip predator drones and Strykers with IMEI/IMSI intercept and a DoS. Costs a lot less... and it's already out in the field.
- pavel_lishin 16y ago> You'd have to hack the firmware to get around that, which I would consider beyond the skills of most bomb makers, if not all of them. But it only takes one.
- coryl 16y agoShe started the new year off with a bang.
- dpritchett 16y agoThis happened on the 2009 Christmas episode of Bones. A guy gets forced into a suicide bomb vest and then it's prematurely detonated. The trigger turned out to be a radio signal from a nearby pirate radio broadcaster who happened to be on the same frequency as the bomber's detonator. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1541172/synopsis http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1541172/synopsis