Bicycle bomb

A bicycle bomb (or bike bomb) is an improvised explosive device that is placed on a bicycle.

History

The first two wheel bomb would be the horse-drawn vehicle used for the Wall Street bombing in 1920 in New York City. This idea developed into the bicycle bomb and car bomb.

United Kingdom

• The IRA used bicycle bombs twice in Northern Ireland and once at a British military facility in Germany.^[1]
  • On 25 August 1939 an IRA bicycle bomb exploded in Coventry, killing five people. The bomb had been left in the basket of a bicycle.^[2]
  • In 1979 a bomb exploded in package carried in a mailbag on a postman's bicycle in Streatley, Berkshire.
  • 13 August 1994 Two bombs were planted in bags placed on bicycles in Brighton and Bognor Regis. The Bognor one detonated damaging shops but no casualties, the Brighton one was defused.^[3]
  • No information is available on the bomb detonated at a British military installation in Germany.
• On 8 August 1976, a member of the Parachute Regiment, Private Robert (Bob) Borucki, was killed by the explosion of a bomb planted inside a basket of a bicycle at Crossmaglen. Borucki is buried in the cemetery in the village of Wales, near Rotherham. A year later, a sangar named after the soldier was built on the spot.^[4] The facility was removed in the early 2000s as part of the Belfast Agreement.

Sri Lanka

• On 30 August 2001 a time bomb tied to a bicycle exploded in the coastal town Kalmunai, killing two policemen and a bystander.

Pakistan

• A bicycle bomb exploded in a suburb of Quetta on 24 May 2004, wounding 15 police and militiamen traveling in a police truck.

Afghanistan

• In Kandahar in the main square at least 15 people were wounded by a bicycle bomb.^[5]
• In February 2006 in the city of Kunduz as a result of a bicycle bomb two Afghans were killed and a German Bundeswehr soldier (from ISAF) was injured.^[6]
• In Kabul on 10 October 2006, a bicycle bomb exploded near a police bus, wounding 11 police officers and civilians.^[7]

Germany

• In 1989, Alfred Herrhausen, chairman of Deutsche Bank, was killed by a sophisticated bomb hidden in a parked bicycle.

Iraq

• In the Iraqi city of Baqubah according to the police at least 25 people were killed in a bicycle bombing on 26 June 2006.
• August 2009, a bicycle bomb explodes near a restaurant in Baghdad killing two people.

India

• In the Indian city of Jaipur a series of seven bomb blasts took place within a span of twelve minutes on 13 May 2008, killing at least 90 people and injuring hundreds more.
• In Ahmedabad, largest city of the state of Gujarat, 45 were killed in a series of 17 blasts which took place within 1 hour on the evening of July 28, 2008.
• Twin bomb blasts at Dilsukhnagar ( Hyderabad )on Feb 21st,2013, 18 Killed and 40 Injured.

Russia

• On August 21, 2009, in Grozny, Chechnya, alleged suicide bombers approached police checkpoints on bicycles before blowing themselves up, killing and wounding several people.^[8]

Jugoslavia Apocryphal - requires confirmation

• Sarajevo 1948, bomb in frame of bike exploded sending saddle out for seat tube for several hundred feet, bike reported otherwise still rideable.

Palestine

• Bikes were placed in market and other areas, in positions where they would be moved (obstruction/nuisance) triggering the device. In the event of finding a suspect bike with luggage, the best action is to avoid moving it.

In popular culture

• The 1955 novel The Quiet American by Graham Greene describes the use of bicycle bombs in Saigon.
• The movie "Charlie Wilson's War" mentions the need for bicycle bombs in the Afghanistan resistance of the USSR.
• There is a band called This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, and bicycles bearing the band's stickers have caused false evacuations at airports and universities.

References

2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo. The bicycle was purchased on HP from Halfords and modified in a terraced house in Coventry. The bomb was a liquid explosive, in a bottle concealed in a book carried on the bicycle. The remains of the bicycle are in the Coventry Police's "Black Museum". Schrapnel from the blast is reported to have travelled over 2 miles /countdown_390828_mon_01.shtml
3. IRA confirms it planted seaside bicycle bombs: Police seek tourist photos and information from hire firms
4. Castles of the North, by Jonathan Olley (2003)
8. Police die in Grozny explosions. The BBC News. 21 August 2009

External links

• Afghan bicycle bomb injures 15 - CNN - December 6 2003
• Bicycle Bomb Kills Locals, Injures German Soldier - Deutsche Welle - February 22 2006
• Bicycle bomb near police bus injures 11 in Kabul - CBC News - October 10 2006
• Bicycle bombs and the fourth policeman John Adams explores the lack of evidence for existence of pipe bombs disguised as bicycles.