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NEWS FROM THE LAB - Saturday, October 30, 2010
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What phone was connected to the Yemen bombs? Posted by Mikko @ 10:25 GMT

Two PETN bombs were found last night. One was hidden inside a laser printer toner cartridge. The bombs were reportedly sent from Yemen to USA on board regular freight planes.

CNN

The bombs were equipped with a detonator connected to a mainboard and a battery taken from a regular mobile phone. Apparently the bombs would have been detonated by calling the phone, triggering the ring vibrating motor, which would detonate the PETN inside the cartridge. Alternatively, a calendar alert set in the phone would trigger the vibrator as well.

So, which phone was it?

Based on the picture of the board, it's most likely a Nokia 6120 Classic.

Compare the image of the PCB connected to the bomb (top) to an image of a spare part 6120c mainboard (bottom):

Nokia 6120c

Nokia 6120 Classic is a smartphone, running Symbian OS 9.2 as the operating system.

Nokia 6120c, image from Wikipedia

IED bombs connected to different kinds of phones are regularly found in Iraq and other crisis zones in the world.

Image credits: Wikipedia, New York Times and IPMart.

Thanks to Pena Saraj�rvi.