WaPo (“Package believed to be bound for Austin explodes at Texas FedEx facility, police say“):
A package believed to be bound for Austin exploded at a Texas FedEx facility overnight, law enforcement officials said early Tuesday.
The explosion occurred at a facility in Schertz, Tex., just northeast of San Antonio sometime around 1 a.m., said FBI Special Agent Michelle Lee.
ATF spokeswoman Nicole Strong said that early indications are that no one was injured.
A law enforcement source said that police are investigating whether the explosion was related to the other four in Austin, and that it “is definitely a concern of ours.”
The incident happened as investigators scrambled for clues at the scene of another mysterious explosion Sunday in Austin, the fourth in a string of attacks in the city this month. Authorities believe they are the work of a sophisticated “serial bomber” who has been terrorizing Austin with increasingly complex devices.
Parcel bombs have been used before in apparent terrorist-linked plots attempting to use delivery services such as FedEx. In 2010, two packages containing plastic explosives and a detonating mechanism were found during transit on two cargo flights bound for the United States. One was discovered in Dubai, and the other at East Midlands Airport in Britain. The explosive devices — hidden in printer cartridges — were originally shipped from Yemen. Later, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility.
Investigators in Texas have not linked the blasts there to any particular individual or organization.
This is certainly looking more like terrorism but there’s no publicly-available information on what’s motivating the attacks. One presumes that they are indeed connected but we don’t know that for certain.
