Indonesian Islamic State Militants Captured While Building Radioactive ‘Dirty Bomb’

A raid conducted against Islamist militants by Indonesian police in West Java last week assumed chilling new significance on Friday, as sources in the Indonesian government revealed to Reuters that the terrorists were working on building a radioactive “dirty bomb.” The original police report about the arrest of five suspects claimed they were building conventional chemical bombs, but now Reuters’ sources say the gang was extracting thorium-232 from household items and hoping to “cook” it into deadly uranium-233 with microwave ovens or a medical X-ray machine. The radioactive material would then be mixed with the current terrorist explosive of choice, TATP or “Mother of Satan,” creating a “dirty bomb” that would spray the blast area with radioactive material. -- More...