WBIED.com Editorial Staff

The enormous Tianjin port blasts on Saturday 15 August 2015 has resulted in the death of over 100 people with an untold number missing.  The blasts, which not attributed to any terror/militant activity, are in all likelihood the result of poor controls by port authorities and the manufacturers of the products which were stored in what has been as clearly unsafe conditions.  Highly flammable and explosive materials were stored en-masse with no regard to the volatility of the chemicals when ignited or worse, combined to create an explosive force that has by all accounts resulted in what looks like a war-zone.

Although by no means of the imagination a WBIED, when one looks at the elements of the explosion :

• Critical Infrastructure i.e. a port
• Volatile chemicals
• Potential for dissident activity

What was resulted in Tianjin rivals what any terror organization who is looking to produce – an IED which has both commercial destructive value and publicity.  Collateral damage is negligible in this case.

Whilst it is at this point considered to be a commercial accident, China has opted for a literal news blackout on the event – why wouldn’t they when the unfortunate deaths and post disaster management of the incident which resulted in unnecessary deaths of the firefighters sent in to fight the blaze, were not well informed nor equipped.