Fingerprinting bombs

An Australian University has made a scientific development which promises to assist police to more efficiently apprehend terrorists responsible for bomb blasts using homemade explosives.

In a world first, the University of Tasmania has developed a portable explosives "fingerprint" device which can process and analyse the complex chemical residues from homemade bombs in minutes.

The briefcase size instrument allows scientists to separate and identify the individual chemicals left in complex residues after a bomb blast. These residues form a "fingerprint" which is used to identify the explosive used.

The instrument was developed by a team of ten scientists in the extensive laboratories of the Australian Centre for Research On Separation Science (ACROSS), under funding from the Research Support for Counter Terrorism Programme through the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia.

After a terrorist bombing, it can often take investigators considerable time using laboratory tests to find exactly the kind of chemicals used to create the bomb.