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Al Qaeda video gives bomb-making lessons

An Al Qaeda videotape obtained by CNN shows a level of sophistication in bomb making that will allow terrorists to arrive at a target city unarmed and put together explosive devices using common household materials.

The tape, parts of which were aired by CNN on Wednesday, is essentially a training video for Al Qaeda recruits. It shows an instructor giving step-by-step lessons on how to make TNT explosives and build detonators and fuses.

"Let me mention that this nitric is locally made," the instructor says as he carefully pours chemicals into a glass bowl to make a compound used in detonators. "Mix the whole thing together until the liquidation process is over."

Tony Villa, a consultant for the US government on terror tactics and bomb making, said the video confirms his fear that Al Qaeda's techniques are now so sophisticated that its bombmakers can cheat detection. "The overarching point here is that they can pick any venue or target city 'with nothing on them', arrive in that city, and based on what we are seeing here, [construct a bomb] using common materials," he said.

The video is among 64 Al Qaeda tapes that CNN obtained -- nearly all of which pre-date the September 11 attacks -- from a source in Afghanistan who said they were found in a house where Osama bin Laden had stayed.

The network said it had paid $30,000 for the footage.

Wednesday's broadcast was the fourth instalment of a series CNN is airing from Monday. Earlier instalments showed Al Qaeda recruits conducting poison gas experiments on dogs, training in terror techniques and bin Laden warning of a mission against America.

PTI

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