2010–present[edit]
Step-by-step instructions for making pressure cooker bombs were published in an article titled "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" in the Al-Qaeda-linked Inspire magazine in the summer of 2010, by "The AQ chef".[4][11][12] The article says "the pressurized cooker is the most effective method" for making a simple bomb.[13] It describes how to fill the cooker with shrapnel and gunpowder, and to create a detonator using the filament of a light bulb and a clock timer.[14] Analysts believe the work was the brainchild of Anwar al-Awlaki, and edited by him and by Samir Khan.[15][16] Inspire's goal is to encourage "lone wolf" Jihadis to attack what they view as the enemies of Jihad, including the United States and its allies.[17]
More recently there were three Islamic radical terrorist cases in the West that involved pressure cooker bombs.[8] The unsuccessful Times Square car bombing attempt in May 2010, in New York City, included a pressure cooker bomb which failed to detonate.[7][8][10][18] The bomb-maker, Faisal Shahzad, was sentenced to life in prison.[7] In the December 2010 Stockholm bombings, a suicide bomber with extreme views on Islam set up a pressure cooker bomb, which failed to detonate.[8][19] In July 2011, Naser Jason Abdo, a U.S. Army private at Fort Hood, Texas, who took pressure cooker bomb-making tips from the Al-Qaeda magazine article, was arrested for planning to blow up a restaurant frequented by U.S. soldiers. Two pressure cookers and bomb-making materials were found in his hotel room.[8][18][20] He was sentenced to life in prison.[18]
In Pakistan, in March 2010, terrorists bombed the U.S.-based Christian aid group World Vision International, killing six employees, using a remotely detonated pressure cooker bomb.[18][21] In October 2012, French police found a makeshift pressure cooker with bomb-making materials near Paris as part of an investigation into an attack on a kosher grocery store.[10]
Two pressure cooker bombs were used in the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.[22] The pressure cookers were filled with nails, ball bearings, and black powder. Initially, it was believed the devices were triggered by kitchen-type egg timers,[23] however, subsequent evidence indicated a remote device was used to trigger the bombs.[24] The bombers allegedly obtained instructions to build the pressure cooker bombs from the Inspire magazine article published by al Qaeda.[25]
