A bra bomb is a bomb worn by women suicide bombers. Hiding the explosives in a bra instead of a vest allows for the women to show their midriffs when searched.[1] In 2007 a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber had explosives hidden in her bra. She blew herself up outside the office of a Tamil minister.[2]

Most notable high-profile attack would be the suicide attack by Thenmuli Rajaratnam wearing a belt with explosives or a bra bomb used in the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).[citation needed]

In the United States, complaints have been made by airline passengers against TSA for their intrusive checks for bra bombs, including the call for an apology and civil rights investigation from a woman who was required to remove her nipple piercings with pliers,[3] and a mother who was told by Airport security to place her infant on the ground.[4]

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  1. ^ "Sri Lanka probing bra bomb". Rediff. July 14, 2004. Retrieved 2008-12-18. The two constables who escaped with injuries have said the woman had shown them her bare midriff to indicate she was not wearing an explosives-filled jacket usually worn by suicide bombers, inspector Palitha Siriwardena said. "This points to the possibility that she was wearing a bra that had explosives in it," Siriwardena said.
  2. ^ "Tamil bra bomber targets Sri Lanka minister". Agence France-Presse. November 27, 2007. Archived from the original on January 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-18. Police investigators at the scene said the Tamil suicide bomber was disabled with polio and appeared to have wired her bra to explode when it was tampered with. She also died in the blast. Tiger suicide bombers usually don jackets with a manual detonating device around waist level, police said.
  3. ^ "Cbs5.com - TSA Forces Woman to Remove Nipple Rings for Flight". Archived from the original on 2009-01-26. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
  4. ^ "More TSA fun -- robot-brained airport security worker makes mother place infant on ground". Boing Boing. 21 January 2004.