Suicide vests ‘made by munitions expert’
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THE suicide vests used by the Paris attackers were made by a skilled professional who could still be at large in Europe, intelligence and security experts have said.
All seven of the militants wore identical explosive vests and did not hesitate to blow themselves up — a worrying change of tactic for jihadists targeting France.
Unlike the attacks in London in 2005 where the bombers’ explosives were stored in backpacks, Friday’s attackers used the sort of vests normally associated with bombings in the Middle East.
“Suicide vests require a munitions specialist. To make a reliable and effective explosive is not something anyone can do,” a former French intelligence chief told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
“A munitions specialist is someone who is used to handling explosives, who knows how to make them, to arrange them in a way that the belt or vest is not so unwieldy that the person can’t move. And it must also not blow up by accident,” he said.
French authorities say the vests appeared to have been made with TATP, or acetone peroxyde, that is easy for amateurs to make at home but is highly unstable.
The vests also included a battery, a detonation button and shrapnel to maximize injuries.
“They didn’t bring these vests from Syria: the more you shake these things, the more you multiply the risks,” said the former intelligence chief.
“It’s very likely he is here, in France or Europe, one or several guys who have come back from jihadist areas and who learned over there,” he said.
Anther specialist said it was likely the vests were made by someone outside the group.
“The explosive specialist is too precious. He never participates in attacks,” said Alain Chouet, a former director at France’s DGSE external intelligence agency.
“The bomb-maker is not cannon fodder,” said Pierre Martinet, another former DGSE official who now works in corporate security.
“He’s there to make more suicide vests,” he said.
Making a vest is also very complicated.
“It takes weeks of training, and you have to work under the watch of a ‘master.’ It’s meticulous work,” said the anonymous former intelligence chief.
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