- A special unit of Mossad's forensic scientists is hunting
the Tailor of Death - the man who makes the customized body suits for the
suicide bombers.
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- Each lightweight suit weighs no more than a few ounces.
It is so designed it can carry concealed up to four kilos of high-explosives
and up to one thousand specially sharpened nails and razor fragments.
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- Each suit is designed to fit under a bomber's street
clothes.
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- Forensic pathologists at the State Forensic Institute
in Israel have assembled fragments of cloth from the remains of recent
bombers to find clues about the Tailor of Death. They may have established:
-
- He is a highly-skilled craftsman. He uses a treble stitch
to sew the suits. But there is evidence of hand-stitching - suggesting
that he visits each suicide bomber before his or her mission to adjust
the suit to a particular body shape.
-
- The suits are made from a cloth most sold by Arab shops
for making undershirts. The cotton comes from a similar source.
-
- Mossad scientists believe the Tailor of Death is using
an old-fashioned Singer sewing machine that is hand-operated. Traces of
grease found on some of the cloth fragments suggest the machine is well
maintained.
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- Using a human model the Mossad scientists have reconstructed
what a suit looks like.
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- It has several pockets deep enough to take sticks of
explosives. These are divided around the upper torso.
-
- Around the waist are similar pouches. These are for the
nail and razor fragments.
-
- There is a separate pouch which is extended over the
genital area - and is designed to be used by female suicide bombers.
-
- "Until now the search of a female suspect at checkpoints
never extended to that area of her body," said Dr. Ariel Merari, a
ranking expert on the psychology of suicide bombers.
-
- Based in Tel Aviv University, he is one of the many experts
Mossad is now consulting to piece together the methods of the suicide bombers.
-
- Israeli women soldiers have now been stationed at every
checkpoint to conduct a thorough search of the genital area of each female
suspect.
-
- The Mossad team hunting the Tailor of Death believes
he operates within the safety of a Palestinian refugee camp.
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- Once he has assembled a suit, he brings it to where the
suicide bomber has been prepared for his mission. It is there that he makes
any last-minute adjustments to the suit's fit.
-
- "It is essential, from his standpoint that the suit
remains totally concealed beneath the bomber's outer clothes," said
Dr. Merari.
-
- Each suit is designed so that the distribution of explosives
is carefully balanced - and that the explosive effect covers the widest
area.
-
- The Tailor of Death almost certainly offers his professional
advice on the choice of outer clothing that suicide bombers should wear
for their mission.
-
- Recently bombers have worn wigs and have been better
dressed than earlier bombers. This has undoubtedly enabled them to gain
access to up-market cafes and restaurants that have been their targets.
-
- From today people who venture into them are being asked
to make a contribution to pay for their own security.
-
- Roni Aviv, who owns the Habarvaz café in central
Tel Aviv - an area which has seen six bomb attacks in recent times - said:
"A good guard can cost £15 per hour. One day can take away all
my profits. We are adding a small surcharge for every meal, say 50p a head."
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- He has an armed guard on the front door. Around the corner
is the devastated May's Coffee Shop. It did not have a guard last weekend
when it was bombed by a suicide bomber wearing one of the Tailor of Death's
customized suits.
-
- This weekend, sniffer dogs trained to detect explosives
will be out on the streets of Israel to find the Tailor's handiwork.
-
- But it will not be easy. The men hunting him believe
he has found a way to impregnate the suits with a solution that masks the
smell of the explosives from trained sniffer dogs. ___
-
- Gordon Thomas is a writer on intelligence for a number
of leading European newspapers (the Sunday Express, UK; El Mundo,Spain;
Welt am Sonntag, Germany). His work is also syndicated internationally
by World Wide Syndication. Any use of the above must carry a clear attribution
to both Gordon Thomas and Globe-Intel. He is a Contributing Editor to Globe-Intel,
an international newsletter devoted to intelligence matters.
-
- To invite others to subscribe to Globe-Intel, have them
click here: gordonthomas-subscribe@topica.com
-
- Seeds of Fire: China and the Story Behind the Attack
on America, published by Dandelion Books, is available in all bookstores,
at www.dandelion-books.com, www.gordonthomas.ie, www.newsmax.com, and for
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