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Spam Text Prematurely Blows Up Suicide Bomber

Hugh Pickens writes "A suicide bomber's plan to detonate explosives in Central Moscow on New Year's Eve was foiled when she received an unexpected spam text message that caused her deadly payload to blow up too early. A message wishing her a happy new year came hours before the unnamed woman was to set off her suicide belt near Red Square, an act of terrorism that could have killed hundreds of people. Islamist terrorists in Russia often use mobile phones as detonators. The bomber's handler, who is usually watching his charge, sends the bomber a text message to set off the explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties."

29 of 573 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, I laughed when I read this by dr_db · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Made me think of Achmed and his 'premature detonation.'

    Sad to think this is how people need to express their world view, happy when it turns out like this for them.

    1. Re:Oh, I laughed when I read this by Sonny+Yatsen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think this is the kind of terrorism we can all get behind - where the terrorist blows himself up without harming other people.

      --
      My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
    2. Re:Oh, I laughed when I read this by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's ok. You're allowed to be callous when you're talking about the death of terrorists.

    3. Re:Oh, I laughed when I read this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      I think this is the kind of terrorism we can all get behind - where the terrorist blows himself up without harming other people.

      Do you experience this much joy when a US Apache helicopter crashes before it has the opportunity to kill Iraqi civilians?

    4. Re:Oh, I laughed when I read this by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We're talking about people who like blowing up not just school children (shock value), but just regular old normal people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, whatever, hanging out at a restaurant getting something to eat, having a business meeting, talking about saving the environment, talking about destroying the environment, getting ready to proposition someone for steady dating, etc. People whose intent is to bring the death of non-combatants, not soldiers who have put themselves in a position to be a target. They gain nothing but the glory of killing innocents that they don't like for some reason. These people are honorless cowards and they are serving honorless cowards. Their lives are worth nothing.

    5. Re:Oh, I laughed when I read this by xaoslaad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, I'm pretty sure I am human when I am happy to see someone who wishes to cause others harm kill themselves before they get the chance. Being enlightened before they decide to do it is a good choice too, but death works just as well.

      People like you who try to empathize with evil people are no longer human. They are wrong. Period. They want to KILL people. KILL. OTHER. PEOPLE. Which one of those words don't you understand. I am HAPPY, THRILLED, ECSTATIC, that they did not get the chance. 10's, dozens, possibly hundreds of others get to live now. That brings me JOY. A tear to my eye. ELATION.

      You can say what you want about the US government and its military, but we don't intentionally target civilians, we don't kill indiscriminately even people who may be on our side, etc. etc. There are accidents, friendly fire casualties, bad apples, and a lot of other bad shit that happens, but it is war and it is chaotic. We try our best not to harm the innocents or our own.

      These monsters walk right into the biggest pile of innocent civilians they can find and detonate themselves.

      So while people like you sit idly by and think of the children, there are some people who work hard to prevent it, and get a little joy when the enemy screws up. You're wrong, not them. Get off your pedestal.

    6. Re:Oh, I laughed when I read this by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They would likely level similar accusations against us, and who's to say how much of the information they have is correct?

      honorless

      By honorless, do you mean "their concept of honor is not one I agree with, therefore they have none"? Im sure in their eyes it is quite honorable; it seems pointless do discuss honor from opposite sides of the battlefield. It seems just as "honorless" to sit from the comfort of your home laughing as someone straps a bomb to their chest and takes their own life.

      Regardless of that, is it not sad that someone would come to that point, that they would view whatever enemy they envision worthy of such hatred that they are willing to inflict civilian casualties? I see nothing humorous about the situation whatsoever, from their intent to their outcome.

  2. Re:Uniqueness by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I doubt it was that sophisticated; they probably just hooked up the wires for the ringer or vibrator to a detonator instead.

  3. Re:Poor Engineering As A Plus: by fredmosby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Either that or they care so little about the suicide bombers that they didn't bother doing the extra work to prevent this.

  4. Re:Good by Nerdfest · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why stop at Islam?

  5. Re:Good by i.r.id10t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Indeed - any fundie is a danger, no matter what invisible sky being they believe in

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
  6. Re:Countermeasure by Haedrian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bombs don't kill people. People kill people.

    If you block text messages off in an area, only outlaws will have text messages.

    end satire.

  7. Surprised they weren't doing *any* filtering by jaymz2k4 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It seems rather dangerous to have it set off with any incoming SMS. You'd think they could've invested in the time to hook it to at least only respond to a particular number.

    --
    jaymz
    1. Re:Surprised they weren't doing *any* filtering by martas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's probably a very crude device, where they attach the speaker/vibrator wires directly to a detonator... Anything more sophisticated/selective would probably require more expensive equipment. I'm sure cost is of at least some concern to them.

  8. How about we send everybody a text by alta · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok, this will only work a few times, and soon the terrorists would find other ways to detonate....

    Every now and then the phone company can randomly send a text message. Or, since the bomb is probably tied to the speaker, just send half a ring. just something small. And do it more often near holidays or major events where people gather (like, before the superbowl, send everyone a text message)

    No need to send to EVERYONE, just everyone in areas where people gather...

    --
    Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
  9. Re:If you're making a bomb anyway by LighterShadeOfBlack · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All it would take is a day's prep, an extra chip and 10 minutes of work to make it only blow up if, say, the message contains 5 a's. Tie the text out to something to check for the right 1's and 0's. This was shoddy workmanship.

    You're talking about rudimentary programming for people who haven't even figured out that they could take the bomb off before detonating it. Gotta walk before you can run.

    --
    Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
  10. Racism about Islam does not help you by captainpanic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How are we going to rid the world of ISLAM? These peopel make me despair, they won't be happy until they convert or kill us all. There isn't a country in the world that hasn't suffered from this religion of hate

    You make me despair. How are we going to get rid of the STUPID people who, without blinking, generalize about a billion people? There isn't a country in the world that hasn't suffered from this racist stupidity.

  11. Re:Best story ever. [citation needed] by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I suspect you answered your own question. It took time to figure all this stuff out, going through records and such, and that's why it's only now being reported on.

  12. Seems to me... by hAckz0r · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It seems to me that this is finally a pretty good reason for having a feature enabled like call forwarding. Send the bloody message back to the handler instead.

    </humor>

    Quite frankly this has a darker story. The handler can't trust the person to push their own button, so the handler does it remotely without the persons consent. That would imply that a number of people have failed to do what they have been psychologically coerced to believe what their duty, when its not something they really wanted to do in the first place. Feelings of despair and insignificance are easily played upon by psychotic individuals.

  13. Sad... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because 90% of women bombers are forced to do it. the scumbag Islamic terrorists either start killing their children, or threaten to kill their kids to make the woman do the deed. In fact a cellphone detonator means she could not be trusted to blow herself up so her Islamic torturer needed to have control of her death to make them happy.

    All you flag wavers saying "dumb bitch" are uninformed as to how Utterly Disgraceful and lack of Honor these Islamic Terrorists are.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Sad... by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't think anyone should be surprised when a woman chooses to blow up herself and some strangers instead of her children. I do not, however, think anyone should give her a free pass because her children were in danger. None of us is qualified to judge who is more deserving of life because none of us is omniscient. Therefore the only responsible thing to do in this situation is choose death for you and yours.

      Or in short, choosing to become a suicide bomber instead of watching your family die is utterly disgraceful and lacks honor. You can condemn the act, however, without condeming the person (who is presumably aerosolized and heading off to meet the maker if there is such a thing.) That is, unless you have been in that position, it's a bit arrogant to be judging someone's decisions.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Sad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      That is the twisted disgusting mess that is Sheria law..

      Women are not human, but objects that can be killed for any reason. and men get no punishment for what their wives do or what they do to their wives.

      Honestly, all parts of Islam are evil and downright horrible, I cant believe anyone would willingly become one. They make Christianity look like nice people with a harm nobody love everyone attitude.

      I would like for someone to please defend Islam and the pure hate it seethes towards non islams and women.

  14. Force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Islam isn't the problem. Religion isn't the problem. Force is the problem. Coercion. Violence. Theft. Fraud. In the absence of force, religion is harmless. In the absence of force, everything is harmless.

    Force is the true root of all evil, because without force, there can be no evil. It's not logically possible, because force is what defines evil from beginning to end.

    Instead of focusing on beliefs, culture, and trying to divide people into "teams" who are supposedly enemies, we should be looking precisely at where and how force is employed, and by whom. This is where the evil is, and this is what needs to stop. Islam doesn't need to stop. Religion doesn't need to stop. FORCE NEEDS TO STOP.

    Now, how many of us are man enough to admit that for every human being murdered by a suicide bomber, governments have caused thousands of times more death and destruction? There's a reason why government wants you to believe that the problem is "Islam", rather than force alone.

  15. Re:Good by geekoid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Depends how you read them. If you are looking for 'signs' in either one that you are to force domination over another you will find it in either text...well ANY lard text anyways. You could find sign in Moby Dick telling you to do what ever it is your looking to do.

    --
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  16. Re:Good by ElectricTurtle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, Islam is more into stoning women who were raped.
    Abusing underage girls and claiming cultural/religious license to do so.
    Executing people like Theo van Gogh in the street for saying anything negative about Islam.
    Kidnapping and torturing people including aid workers until finally taping their slow, agonizing decapitation.

    Yeah, Islam has quite a moral high ground there too.

    Religion is evil.

    --
    I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
  17. Re:Countermeasure by ToasterMonkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bombs don't kill people. People kill people.

    If you block text messages off in an area, only outlaws will have text messages.

    end satire.

    End the madness, we need strong bomb-control laws!
    Even better, lets ban bombs!

  18. Re:Poor Engineering As A Plus: by Karlt1 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    A little fact checking on Wikipedia....

    Really?

  19. Its funny when sociopaths kill themselves by TiggertheMad · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Really? Is this where we are now? I am supposed to be upset that a sociopath that is trying to maim and kill other people dies by their own ineptitude? Most people are upset by injustice in the world. Riots have been touched off on occasion when the criminal justice system fails to deliver a verdict that aligns with the populist concept of what would be just. When a story like this pops up, it resonates with people because the 'victim' experiences true justice, inflicting on themselves the very same fate that they would have perpetrated on others.

    You can write this off as an hateful attempt at demonizing the enemy, but that just stinks of an irrational bleeding heart idealism. This person was trying to murder random civilians because they didn't want to try to reason with the government. Fuck them, their death isn't sad, its a public service.

    I don't buy that all life is precious bullshit. There are a few people who who the world is simply a better place without. Deal with it.

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    1. Re:Its funny when sociopaths kill themselves by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I am supposed to be upset that a sociopath that is trying to maim and kill other people dies by their own ineptitude?

      To laugh as a sociopath is gunned down by the firing squad seems to place you squarely on the same path as he. Whos to say that with the right justification you might not find yourself in his place, in the name of eliminating others like him?