Just as the holiday season begins, TSA has graced us all with its annual holiday season travel warning. The administration has warned police departments “to be wary of potential attacks on city buses as terrorists seek to attack the country’s transportation infrastructure.” More details after the jump…
Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups could be targeting buses around the nation because they are easier to attack than airplanes, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Just before the beginning of the holiday travel season, the TSA warned police departments in Washington, D.C., to be wary of potential attacks on city buses as terrorists seek to attack the country’s transportation infrastructure.
The announcement reminds law enforcement officials that bus attacks are more common than attacks against the airline industry, with more than 725 bus attacks from 2004 through 2009.
Information about the new threat comes from a TSA bulletin called ‘Terrorist Concerns Regarding Mass Transit Bus Systems’ that was obtained by Fox News.
‘It’s something that we’ve seen in reporting over time that terrorists around the world clearly are interested — because of the accessibility, the open architecture — both of buses and rail,’ Transportation Security Administration Director John Pistole told reporters in Washington earlier this week.
A suicide bomber blew himself up on a London bus, killing two people, during the coordinated attacks on the London transit system on 7 July, 2005.
Intelligence recovered at Osama bin Laden’s compound shows the Al Qaeda leader considered using buses to ram into buildings in the United States, Fox News reported.
‘He always felt that he wanted to leverage his targets,’ Chuck Pfarrer, author of “Seal Target Geronimo,†told the cable network.Â
‘Both to use a soft target, one that he had access to, and one that was spectacular because you know terrorism it has to resonate within the world of ideas. It’s political theater, and he had a really good grasp of that.’
Suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices have been used on buses by terrorists.
However, the TSA says the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen ‘advocates the use of vehicle ramming attacks against crowds, buildings and other vehicles.’
Security officials said there are no indication terrorist groups have immediate plans to attack buses.
Nonetheless, the TSA bulletin warns that terrorist groups could be trying to recruit employees or ‘insiders’ who work in the bus, train and airline industry.
