by Ann Williams
It did not take long to find the culprits. When Murad returned to retrieve the computer, he was arrested. After being subjected to torture by the police, he was extradited to the United States, where he gave evidence that helped to convict Yousef. Yousef himself was picked up as he hid in a hotel room in Islamabad, Pakistan; and another accomplice, Wali Khan Amin Shah, who had bankrolled the operation, was arrested in Malaysia. All were tried in the USA and received life sentences.
Despite his pose as a political radical, during his trial Yousef emerged as a thoroughly destructive, and in some ways incompetent thug, dedicated to bloodshed, violence and revenge, rather than to the establishment of a new order. He was alleged to have been personally violent towards his several wives, often beating them when he was angry. After being sentenced, he refused to show any remorse for his actions and commented in court that he was proud of being a terrorist.
AFTERMATH
After the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, a memorial fountain was built on Austin J. Tobin Plaza, just above where the explosion took place, to commemorate the victims of the attack. On it was engraved the names of the six people who lost their lives and an inscription that claimed the bomb made us all victims. The words proved to be prophetic. In 2001, both of the World Trade Center towers were completely destroyed in the attacks of 9/11, also blowing up the memorial fountain. A small piece of it was later recovered, and found to bear the word ‘John D’. Strangely, almost everything around the fragment had been reduced to dust by the enormous blast of the bomb and the falling masonry that day. Currently, the fragment is set to be used as the central motif in a new memorial to the victims of 9/11, so that the victims of the first bombing will be forever remembered along with them.
Warrington Bomb Attacks
The first explosion drove panicking shoppers into the path of the next blast just seconds later.
Eyewitness
Warrington is the main town situated between Manchester and Liverpool, and the largest town in Cheshire. On March 20, 1993, two bombs exploded in the town centre killing two young boys, which provoked widespread condemnation of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish terrorist organization responsible.
The onset of the troubles in Warrington started on Thursday, February 25, 1993, when three IRA terrrorists broke into a Warrington gas storage depot. After planting several Semtex bombs, the three men attempted to get away, but they were spotted by a patrolling police officer, Mark Toker, who was shot in the chase. Luckily the majority of the bombs failed to detonate, and apart from a huge fireball there were no casualties. However, if the citizens of Warrington thought they had had a lucky escape they were wrong. The three IRA men were arrested and taken into custody, but little did the police realize that the IRA would want revenge.
REVENGE
The shopping mall at Warrington was packed with shoppers who had been brought out by a spell of warm spring weather. It was March 20, the day before Mother’s Day, and people were out looking for cards and gifts.
At just around midday the charity help-line of the Samaritans received a coded message that a bomb was going to explode outside the Boots shop in Liverpool, which was approximately 24 km (15 miles) from Warrington. The Merseyside police leapt into action, also warning the Cheshire police in Warrington of the threat. By the time the message got through, however, it was too late to act, as a bomb exploded in Bridge street outside the Boots store. Just minutes later a second bomb exploded outside the Argos catalogue shop. People ran in panic after the first bomb exploded, only to run into the path of the second.
The bombs had been left in two separate cast-iron litter bins, which turned them into the equivalent of two large hand grenades. As they exploded they sent small amounts of shrapnel flying through the air. There were casualties everywhere, some even lost limbs in the explosion. Those people that were not too shocked, rushed to their aid.
Buses were arranged to take people away from the area and paramedics started to arrive to administer on-the-spot treatment. In the end, crews from 17 ambulances had to deal with the casualties, and plastic surgeons were bought to Warrington General Hospital from the regional burns unit at Whiston hospital, 10 km (6 miles) away. In total there were 56 casualties.
The news that sickened the nation the most was the unnecessary death of two small boys. Jonathan Ball was only three when he died, and an only child. He was out with his babysitter in Warrington, helping her choose a Mother’s Day card. He died at the scene of the explosion and Jonathan’s father, Wilf Ball, still grieves a decade later. He said, ‘It’s hard not to be bitter. They took something away that you were living for.’
The second child was 12-year-old Tim Parry, who had been sitting on the bin at the time and took the full force of the blast. Tim was still alive when he arrived at hospital and was put on a life support machine for five days, but his little body eventually gave up fighting.
Despite the biggest murder hunt that Cheshire had ever seen, the police were unable to turn up any positive evidence and no one has ever been caught.
THE AFTERMATH
Colin and Wendy Parry, Tim’s parents, campaigned to build a peace centre within months of their son’s death. On the seventh anniversary of the explosions, the Tim Parry–Jonathan Ball Young People’s Centre was opened. It is dedicated to working with adults, children and peace organizations that aim to resolve conflicts at a local, national and international level. The centre is run by the NSPCC and includes accommodation for visiting groups from around the world.
The River of Life project was also developed in the aftermath of the Warrington bombs. The project was an effort to bring new hope to the community and to act as a reminder of what happened on Bridge Street that day. The central design of the River of Life is a tear-shaped water feature in which water emerges from a broken glacial boulder. It then cascades onto a bronze dome, which bears the imprints of the hands of local school children. Around the dome is a disc of etched copper showing the faces of children, including those of Tim and Jonathan.
JOHN KINSELLA
One of the three men arrested for the Warrington gas works bombing was a petty thief by the name of John Kinsella. At his trial in 1994, Kinsella was sentenced to 20 years for possession of an explosive substance. He claimed that he stashed a bag of Semtex, which was to be used for future IRA operations, on an allotment, because he believed it contained some stolen silver. He denied any involvement with the IRA. He told the court that he was eager to make some extra cash and was told that if he would hide the bag he would be well rewarded.
Inmates had warned Kinsella that the IRA did not forgive informants. While he was on remand he tried to commit suicide by slashing his neck on the lid of a salmon tin.
The supposed leader of the IRA unit that carried out the gas works bombings was Páiric MacFhloinn, who was given 35 years for his part. MacFhloinn gave important evidence claiming that Kinsella had been fooled by the IRA, and Kinsella’s case was referred to the Court of Appeal. Unfortunately when the case was due to be heard, MacFhloinn backed down and told the police that the IRA leadership had told him that they did not wish him to give evidence at the appeal.
During the appeal, the Crown Court felt it was unlikely that Kinsella was a member of the IRA, as he would never have led the police to the stash of explosives. The only link with the IRA that had been found during investigations were three photographs in a family album, which included a display commemorating the death of an IRA volunteer in Belfast in 1972. After the appeal John Kinsella’s sentence was reduced from 25 to 16 years. Following the Good Friday Agreement John Kinsella was released in 1999 as part of the early release programme agreement between Ireland and the UK.
The Good Friday Agreement was a historic breakthrough, which addressed relationships between both parts of Ireland and England, Scotland and Wales. However, the process of arriving at the agreement was gruelling and very hard to put into practise, and at this stage it is still too early to say whether thi
s document will mark a final break from the past.
Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901
Fight against a nation, revenge a nation; and this jihad of our nation will liberate Muslims captivity and humiliation
Ansar Allah
The bombing of a small aeroplane, Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, thought to have been carried out by a suicide bomber, was one of several horrifying anti-Israeli terror attacks to take place in 1994. All the 21 people on board, many of them Jewish businessmen, were killed when the bomb exploded. The previous day, a large bomb had been placed in the Asociacion Mutua Israelita Argentina (AMIA), a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires, killing 86 people. In the same year, the Israeli embassy in London was attacked, injuring 20 people, and a car bomb outside a Jewish charity shop exploded. In addition, two years earlier, there had been a major attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people.
The perpetrators of these atrocities were widely held to be the work of Palestinians linked to Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese group. In some cases, the culprits were arrested, tried and convicted. However, in the case of the Alas Chiricanas Flight, no one was ever brought to justice.
On July 19, 1994, a twin-propeller Panamanian plane set off on its usual route between Francis Field, Colon, and Panama City, at 4.30 p.m. There was nothing to suppose that the voyage was anything out of the ordinary, or that terrorists could have any reason to attack such a small domestic service. However, as the plane flew over the Santa Rita Mountains there was a massive explosion on board, and the plane was blown into numerous pieces. The wreckage was scattered over the mountains below. Later, despite the difficulties of working in such terrain, the emergency services managed to recover the remains of the victims, numbering 21 people in all. All of these were claimed by their families, except one: that of a passenger named Jamal Lya.
Had it not been for the fact that, the day before, a bomb had exploded in Buenos Aires, killing 86 people, many of them Jewish, the tragedy that befell the Alas Chiricanas flight might have been deemed a mysterious accident, rather than a terror attack. But as it was, suspicions were immediately aroused, particularly when it became clear that a large number of passengers on the plane were Jewish. (The Buenos Aires bomb had been targeted to kill Jews at the Argentine–Jewish Mutual Association in the city.)
Jamal Lya, the passenger whose remains were not claimed by his family, was described by ground staff as aged about 25 to 28, and having a Middle Eastern appearance. He was light-skinned with black hair, brown eyes and thick eyebrows. He apparently did not speak English or Spanish, and he communicated by using hand signals and by writing notes on occasion.
Lya boarded the plane under a false passport, carrying a briefcase containing a Motorola radio packed with semtex plastic explosives, which later blew up as he held it on his lap. However, since no one came forward to identify him, little more is known about him.
After the bombing, a mysterious organization called Ansar Allah (The Helpers of God, in Arabic) issued a statement to the press, supporting the action. They did not, however, claim direct responsibility for it. They also announced their approval of the Buenos Aires bombing the day before.
Because of this anti-Jewish link, it was widely supposed that the bombing was the work of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant Arab group, or possibly some other pro-Palestinian organization. However, no proper investigation was launched, and despite pressure from the international community, the Panamanian authorities have, to this day, done little to find out the details of what happened, or to bring any co-conspirators to justice. By contrast, the AMIA bombing in Argentina has been the subject of a high-profile, controversial trial. It was hoped that, during the course of that trial, some light would be shed on the Alas Chiricanas tragedy, but as yet, the crime is still unsolved.
Genocide In Rwanda
In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda.
Kofi Annan
Rwanda is one of the smallest countries located in Central Africa, with a population of around 7,000,000 people. In 1994, the Hutu government and its extremist allies almost succeeded in wiping out the entire Tutsi minority.
Rwanda is divided into two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi, and for years there has been tension, which gradually reached a peak while the country was under Belgian colonial rule. The Hutus account for around 90 per cent of the population, but in the past the Tutsi minority were considered the aristocracy who dominated the Hutu peasants for decades. Originally, there was little difference between the two groups – they spoke the same language, inhabited the same areas and followed the same traditions. However, when the Belgian colonists arrived in 1916, they saw the two groups as entirely different entities, even resorting to producing identity cards according to their ethnic origin. The Belgians treated the Tutsis as the superior group and because of this they enjoyed superior education and employment than their neighbours, the Hutus.
Bit by bit resentment grew among the Hutu people, which culminated in a series of riots in 1959. They killed more than 20,000 Tutsis, and many more fled to the surrounding countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.
When Rwanda became independent from Belgium in 1962, the Hutus seized power and started to take control, oppressing the minority Tutsis with outbreaks of extreme violence.
PREPARING TO ATTACK
Hutu President Juvénal Habyarimana, who was coming to the end of two decades in power, was starting to lose popularity among the Rwandans as the economic situation deteriorated. Tutsi refugees who had fled to Uganda, with the aid of some moderate Hutus, formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), with the aim of overthrowing the president and regaining their homeland.
At first Habyarimana did not see the newly formed rebel group as a threat, but saw it as a way of bringing dissident Hutus back to his side. He started to accuse Tutsis who were still living in Rwanda as RPF collaborators and in a campaign to create hatred between the two ethnic groups, Habyarimana played on the memories of early Tutsi domination. Tutsis were easily recognized by their appearance, and most Rwandan residents knew who they were even without looking at their identification cards.
By 1992, Habyarimana had started to provide military training to members of his party, and they formed into a militia that became known as the Interahamwe (Those Who Stand Together or Those Who Attack Together). Attacks against Tutsis became commonplace and any violence committed by the Interahamwe became accepted as it was considered to be for political gain.
Gradually, through the use of violence, harmful propaganda and persistent political tactics, Habyarimana and his band of militia widened the gap between the Hutus and the Tutsis. Aware that it would be too expensive to arm all of the president’s supporters with firearms, it was decided to import a large numbers of machetes. This provided approximately every third adult Hutu male with some sort of weapon.
Aware of the political activity, the RPF prepared themselves for further conflict. They started to recruit more supporters and, despite the peace agreement signed between Habyarimana and the RPF in 1993, they increased their soldiers and firepower. The horrific turn of events that took place in 1994 was sparked off by the death of Habyarimana on April 6, when his plane was shot down just above Kigali airport. Travelling with Habyarimana was the president of Burundi and various other chief members of staff, and the perpetrator of this crime has never been established. Whoever was behind the crime, the effect was both catastrophic and immediate.
GENOCIDE BEGINS
The Presidential Guard in the capital of Kigali, backed by the militia, and led by Colonel Bagosora, instantaneously started to take their revenge. They murdered leaders of the political opposition and Hutu government officials, leaving space for Bagosora and his men to take control.
Within 24 hours of Habyarimana’s jet being shot down, roadblocks sprang up all around Kigali. Recruits were despatched all over the little country to carry out a horrendous wave of killings, separating Tutsis from Hutus and hacking th
em to death with machetes at the roadside. Those who could afford to pay, chose to die from a bullet. The Interahamwe encouraged locals to join in, often forcing them to kill their Tutsi neighbours. Participants were offered bribes to encourage them to take part, using money and food as incentives, even telling them that they could keep the land of any Tutsis they killed.
UN troops were powerless to stop the killings and after the slaughter of ten of their own soldiers, they decided to withdraw their troops. Rwanda’s first female prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, was murdered despite her guard of Belgian soldiers. These soldiers were arrested, disarmed, tortured and murdered in the hope that it would force the Belgians to withdraw their troops. Just as the rebels intended, the Belgians decided to remove the remainder of its UN troops from Rwanda.
The genocide spread with incredible speed, expanding from Kigali out into the more remote parts of the countryside. Government radio broadcasts encouraged the Tutsis to take refuge in churches, schools and sports stadiums, but this only made it easier for the rebels as their targets were congregated in larger groups. The Tutsis tried their hardest to fight off the Hutu rebels, but only armed with sticks and stones, they made little, if any, impact against the grenades and machine guns of the Rwandan army and presidential guard.
Within 13 weeks of April 6, 1994, the slaughter of at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus had taken place. The stench of decomposing bodies hung heavily in the air, and everywhere there was the gruesome evidence of what had taken place. Twisted bodies lay by the roadside, some were heaped on top of one another and others, which had been brutally mutilated, were thrown down a steep hillside. A decapitated torso of a child lying on the steps of a church surrounded fragments of clothing – all these things a grim reminder of the devastation wrought by the tribal violence.
