Bomb culture culprits disappear into thin air

The turbulent eighties were terrible in more ways than one no less for the subversive bomb culture that existed, which terrorised both private and public individuals

An investigation carried out by MaltaToday reveals that between 1978 and 1987 142 bombs were planted of which at least a 100 exploded. The culprits of such vile acts were never caught and remain unknown till this very day. A tribute to police and political incompetance in the case of a person arraigned for placing a bomb outside a police station, the court decided that the police had intentionally fabricated the evidence.

Not all cases were linked to the tense political situation at the time indeed some were the settling of personal feuds over fields or boundary walls. But there is no denying that the most damaging bombs, both psychologically and physically, were those that targeted government institutions, public officials and political party clubs.

There is no hard evidence to suggest that there was a bombing strategy to destabilise the government of the time but the list of targets does point towards that direction.

Targets included the Commissioner of Police, the Air Malta chairman, Government Swatar computer centre in Dingli, police stations, foreign embassies and the Archbishop’s residence among others. And that ‘strategy’ continued for some time after the 1987 change in administration when the targets included a reverse osmosis pipeline, police officers and the Mid Med Bank branch in Zejtun. The people behind these bombings are unknown and both major political parties have consistently denied that they ever encouraged such violent means. The height of the bombings was in 1984 and 1987 with 24 and 25 bombs being planted respectively.

The former marked the climax of the church school controversy while the latter was election year.

Out of the 24 bombs planted in 1984 at least 21 exploded. In just 16 weeks that coincided with the beginning of the scholastic year between September and December, mysterious hands planted no less than 19 bombs. Notable targets included the Archbishop’s residence, the residence of the Vatican’s representative in Malta, the Museum building in Blata l-Bajda and the residences of parish priests in Floriana and Birkirkara.

This same year saw bombs go off on the doorsteps of the Nationalist Party clubs in St Julian’s which was targeted twice, Birkirkara, Victoria, and Attard.

The run up to the 1987 election was also peppered with bombs. Labour MP Reno Calleja had his farmhouse bombed in January while a bomb outside the home of another Labour MP Guze Cassar did not go off. Until the election other bombs where placed outside the residences of people, who might have had clear political links.

But the biggest number of bombs planted that year came after the May election with 16 bombs planted outside residences and places of work. Out of the 25 bombs planted in 1987 at least 17 exploded.

December 1985 was particularly shocking when bombs exploded outside the Qrendi, Mqabba and Sliema police stations with the latter injuring four policemen and a young girl. During the same period a powerful bomb exploded at the Libyan Cultural Centre in Valletta and another explosive device was detonated at a playing field in Qrendi.

In 1982 a bomb exploded outside the Mosta residence of former Dom Mintoff private secretary Joe Camilleri. The bomb caused widespread damage. Three days later a bomb exploded outside the main door of the Nationalist Party headquarters in Pieta.

Not all bombs were made of the same explosive material and some were less damaging than others, but, a worrying factor that emerged from research undertaken by this newspaper is the use of TNT in some of the cases.

TNT is a yellow, odourless solid explosive that is highly flammable and toxic and it is mostly used in military shells, bombs and grenades. In some cases it is also used in industry such as underwater blasting. Owing to its dangerous nature its importation is prohibited and it is only the Armed Forces who use it in their shells.

TNT was used in the explosion at the Libyan Cultural Centre in Valletta in 1985, it was the explosive dropped on the doorstep of Labour MP Guze Cassar in 1987, which luckily did not explode and it was also used in the bombs that wreaked havoc in the residences of two police officers in 1987.

In other cases an explosive known as Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) was used. This explosive is widely used in quarries thus making it more available locally. ANFO was used in the blast on Joe Camilleri’s house in Mosta in 1982 and in the explosion that occurred on the reverse osmosis pipe in 1987.

Gelatin was another preferred type of explosive. It was normally placed in a tin to give the bomb more power with a fuse wire attached.

As is expected, the vast majority of bombs were placed and exploded during the stealth of the night by mysterious individuals who knew what they were doing.

Although nobody has ever been identified it is probable that the people who planted the explosives did not create the bombs themselves.