Taliban using HIV bombs

Taliban using HIV bombs

www.thesun.co.uk

TALIBAN fighters are burying dirty needles with their bombs in a bid to infect British troops with HIV, The Sun can reveal.

Hypodermic syringes are hidden below the surface pointing upwards to prick bomb squad experts as they hunt for devices.

The heroin needles are feared to be contaminated with hepatitis and HIV. And if the bomb goes off, the needles become deadly flying shrapnel.



Read more: www.thesun.co.uk...

(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't know if I can believe this (see source) but whether or not it is true, these people know how to come up with some good stories/ideas. The way it is written, and the "Our Boys" section the article is archived makes me skeptical but

If it were true

Can any one confirm whether or not this is at all possible? Seems doable at the very least...

www.thesun.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Just how long do you think an AIDS virus would last on a needle stuck on a bomb? A few hours at best. Also where are they going to find all these needles and it would be very risky just to handle them (if freshly used).

Sounds like propaganda to me.

It wouldn't surprise me to be honest (and that's generally the way the Sun writes articles on anything to do with 'our boys' at war... It's key to their sales figures).

Infected needles and such if they are available are a pretty simple thing to incorporate or booby trap a device with.

The police and prison guards world wide are already used to this when searching smack heads, needles can be hidden anywhere, literally, and one prick and it could be infected for life.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Just how long do you think an AIDS virus would last on a needle stuck on a bomb? A few hours at best. Also where are they going to find all these needles and it would be very risky just to handle them (if freshly used).

Sounds like propaganda to me.

I was thinking the same thing, would'nt the virus be long dead before the bomb went off?

HIV requires contstant body temperature to remain alive. Outside the human body it dies within seconds/a few minutes.

This story sounds very much like propaganda to get people scared.

It reminds me of that hoax that was going around a while ago, saying people were leaving needles on cinema seats along with a note saying "Haha, you now have AIDS".

reply to post by Portugoal


I wonder where all these dirty needles are coming from and whether by "bomb" they mean "opium" and by "Taliban fighters" they mean "other guys in their unit."





[edit on 9-6-2010 by belial259]

Originally posted by belial259


I wonder where all these dirty needles are coming from and whether by "bomb" they mean "opium" and by "Taliban fighters" they mean "other guys in their unit."





[edit on 9-6-2010 by belial259]

Haha ... good one.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I was thinking that too, not sure about the survivability of such viruses particularly out in the hot sun all day. However just the thought of such a thing as HIV being present is enough to give me the heebies, maybe that's the point, a terrorist weapon in the truest sense. If someone told me it was Ok there was no chance of the virus still being alive I would be still be a tad apprehensive in handling it! As for the Sun's credibility as a source, not too sure on this one it doesn't make sense to me for them to be scaring their own troops needlessly. Perhaps the virus part is a fabrication but there is evidence showing hypodermics as shrapnel.

Freaky Double

[edit on 9-6-2010 by Big Raging Loner]

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


It makes you want to hate the enemy more because they fight "dirty." It's propaganda at its finest. If it were possible though, it's certainly giving the enemy ideas. If any type of virus/chemical can live out there, I don't see why this can't be practical for them to use.

who the hell would read a story in The Sun and believe it? much less post it as news.
Come on.

How would this even be useful as a weapon?

Nice way to lump together propaganda about war, drugs, HIV and those pesky foreigners.

You'd have to be a complete idiot to believe this.

[edit on 9-6-2010 by Frakkerface]

[edit on 9-6-2010 by Frakkerface]

Originally posted by Pixus
HIV requires contstant body temperature to remain alive. Outside the human body it dies within seconds/a few minutes.

This story sounds very much like propaganda to get people scared.

It reminds me of that hoax that was going around a while ago, saying people were leaving needles on cinema seats along with a note saying "Haha, you now have AIDS".

While you are correct that the HIV virus cannot sustain when exposed to air and lower temperatures, if it as stated in the article, is housed within a syringe, it can last FAR FAR longer. Here is a snippet from a University of California Medical Center article...

In Geneva, last month I ran into, Robert Heimer, an expert on the viability of HIV inside syringes. I asked him how long the virus could remain infectious in a used syringe. Inside the hermetically sealed syringe, HIV can remain viable for up to 36 days, depending on the type of syringe and the amount of virus it contained to begin with. Syringes with detachable needles, your basic insulin needle and the most common type exchanged by needle exchange programs, can contain about 20 microliters of residual blood.

hivinsite.ucsf.edu...

I am by no means speaking to the reliability of the OP's article, just pointing out there is the ability for the virus to survive for extended periods of time.

reply to post by vimanarider


Hermetically sealed syringes would be easily detected and would not be able to readily expose anyone if this is true. since hermetically sealed means airtight. "Oh, here's a sealed syringe full of blood. Let me open it and allow it to come in contact with my own blood."

And an explosion if the syringe was inside a bomb would burn up the virus. This is just not plausible at all and most likely a complete fabrication by someone with little or no biomedical experience.

Furthermore, HIV would not expose someone unless it came in contact with their own blood or possibly certain mucus membranes, but that is unlikely. HIV is just not as easily transmitted as most people believe.

They're much more likely to have success with something like hepatitis-C, as it will survive much longer outside the human body, however, a Hep-C scare just doesn't quite have the stigma that an HIV scare would.

Originally posted by webpirate
reply to post by vimanarider

 

Hermetically sealed syringes would be easily detected and would not be able to readily expose anyone if this is true.

And an explosion if the syringe was inside a bomb would burn up the virus.

Both very good points. I'd imagine the IED detection equipment the forces over there have would easily pick up any metal in the explosives from some distance away. And the HIV would be burned.

This sounds like a hoax news, not the OP just the news.

It could be to spread fear, but like many already posted, HIV is a very sensitive virus and doesn't survive very long outside the body.

So I can see many people been scare of needles infected but I doubt that it will infect anybody unless the infected needles are fresh.

that means carrying infected donors at all times to bleed as needed and make the bombs as fast.

Hardly attainable

The sun has always been one of those fake papers of news, bigfoot caught yodelling in the swiss alps, space alien weds and gives birth to a goatboy, dick chenney and bush were lovers and are turning new leafs, crazy things like that..even a special needs person knows their full of it...
i know lots about HIV, studying it. It can only live 2 or 3 seconds maximum outside the body.it needs immediate host transfer to infect. i suppose if they were inside needles with some blood and preservative, needles schrapneling outwards might be a risk..
afghanistan dosnt have HIV infected people. so where would they get it from? hte story is a lie and total rubbish*

first off this has a very low chance of working.

we are assuming here

1. the syringe can keep the hiv virus alive.

2. it works as planed and ejects someone.

3. terrorists have the want to do this

4, terrorists would find it financially viable. to source hiv infected needles and deploy them alongside bombs.

5. your target wont die for a long long time. and will still defuse many more bombs in the long run.

its just not an effective combat method for a bomb maker , why would anyone employ it.

if it is intentional, im sure its more of a form of physiological warfare.

to make the enemy think its harmful.

therefore adding some impairment to any bomb disposal.

The Sun newspaper is the biggest tabloid in the UK. It s filled with sensationalised lies and dumbed down nonsense.

They focus on creating hate towards Muslims - any Muslim, hate towards genuine refugees, building patriotism and love for troops in Afghanistan (they call these 'Our Boys') in order to make the war more accepted. The newspaper is humorously known as 'The Moral Guardian of Britain' by anyone with half a brain cell.

It is actually classed as a newspaper.... which makes me sick. It is the same type of publication as The Star, The Mirror and The News of The World.

The worst thing is it's one of Britain's most popular papers!

STAY AWAY FROM IT!!

[edit on 9-6-2010 by and14263]

I realized it was probably fake because of the Sun's reputation. I was just wondering if it was at all possible. It seems plausible to me; if not with HIV than perhaps with another virus or chemical of some sort.