More on the Trinidad and Tobago Bombing.

The Trinidad Express should be given a lot of credit for grace: performance under pressure. It has demonstrated to be the most active news source on the bombing in Trinidad and Tobago so far, with updates already - though apparently done for stories for tomorrow (the past tense in the articles, as well as references to 'yesterday', indicate this).

The phone system of Trinidad and Tobago was congested, which isn't too surprising considering how congested it is normally. TSTT might want to consider upgrading the infrastructure. But it should have been doing that over the last 14 years while aggressively pursuing more business. If you could not contact friends and family in Trinidad and Tobago, don't worry too much. It's just TSTT, the government run monopoly at it's normal levels. Try again tomorrow.

A list of victims shows the following people injured, thankfully with no fatalities:

• Llanes Rodolfo, 26, of Mt. Lambert.
• Adama Belfast,16, of Brunton Road, St James.
• Cindy Kassie, Akal Street, of Santa Cruz.
• Andel Darren Stephenson, 26, of #24 Williams Street, Aranguez.
• Shannela Poon, of Ariapita Road, St Ann's.
• Natasha Thorne, 24 ,of Wharton Street, Laventille.
• Lennard Holder, 66, of Old St Joseph Road, Laventille.
• Gilmore Thomas, 23, of Beggs Trace, Toco
• Ann Marie Walters, 41, Address Unknown
• Junior Wilfred, 29, of River Estate, Diego Martin
• Evelyn Debra, 45, of Egypt Lane, Arima
• Yvonne McIvor, 65, of 81 Carib Avenue, Lawrence Park, Arima. Lost her left leg.
• Nicole Kassie, 32, Address unknown.
• Michael Ali, 22, Address unknown

According to the article 'Bloodshed' (be advised the picture on this page is very graphic), the explosion is not being viewed as a terrorist attack at this time - probably indicating that no group has claimed responsibility:

... Military explosives experts led by Major Roger Best initially took the lead in investigating the scene when the intent of the act was not yet certain. The investigation was eventually handed over to the police after it was deemed to be a criminal act. The police were assisted by US bomb experts who are currently in Trinidad training the Customs K-9 Unit in bomb and explosives detection.

The dogs were employed to sniff the area and nearby stores to ensure that no other explosives were present.

"Terrorism is not what we are entertaining at this time in terms of this event," military sources told the Daily Express. "There was no motive and no specific target, we cannot say that the perpetrators had a specific intent. We believe it was just a random act."

The Daily Express was told that the device used in yesterday's explosion was homemade, did not carry a timer and was in a plastic container.

"We could not detect any evidence of a timer. The fact that it went off near where watches and cell phones were being sold could be a throw off, but we are pretty certain one was not present," the source said.

"It is the kind of bomb that could be made from home ingredients like ammonium nitrate, which can be found in fertilisers," military sources said.

They also said that the person or persons responsible for yesterday's tragedy either knew exactly what they were doing, or pulled what they thought would have been a harmless prank.

"Why we say this is because the bomb itself, the device, on its own was pretty harmless, but the fact that it was placed in the wrought iron bin, made it potentially deadly," the military officer said.

"All of the damage that was done yesterday, the people who were injured, injuries to property was all done by shrapnel from the iron bin. The device was only dangerous because it was placed in the bin. So the person who put it there, either knows exactly what the effect would be, or on the other hand, they placed it there, thinking that in its iron container, it would be completely harmless." ...

So it's important to note that this is being viewed as a criminal act, and not as an act of terrorism. Were it the latter, it stands to reason that the military would be put in charge of the investigation. Of course, in cases such as this one never knows exactly what is happening. In fact, to make it more difficult, the crime scene was damaged by a helicopter landing meters away; scattering evidence with the everyday rubbish on the streets of Port of Spain. Who was in the helicopter? The people who should know better:

...Police Commissioner Trevor Paul and Special Anti-Crime Unit head Brigadier Peter Joseph touched down in the chopper around 5.10 p.m. while crime scene, bomb squad and forensic officers were collecting evidence...

No wonder there is a crime problem in Trinidad and Tobago. There's no demonstrated understanding of a crime scene by the very people in charge - and an excuse that doesn't bode well considering Peter Joseph was at the counter-terrorism conference in Tobago. Perhaps he didn't finish the course.

It seems that, though injured people have been treated, there will be no fatalities since the worst injury was the loss of a leg:

...The most serious injury was suffered by passerby Yvonne McIvor whose leg had to be amputated. One other person is said to be critical...

Apparently, Yvonne McIvor will be 66 on the 12th of July. Thankfully, she will be able to celebrate it. Her husband, David McIvor, did say something which weighs in heavily on the situation in Trinidad and Tobago:

...David chided both the government and the opposition for not working together in combatting the crime problem...

When a man in a hospital has more sense than the politicians running things...

Of course, Parliament was closed due to it's proximity, and as much immediate political leverage as possible was made of it.

The Prime Minister, Patrick Manning released a Statement which the Trinidad Express reports on (though that doesn't look like the Prime Minister said it - he wouldn't refer to himself as the Prime Minister, one would think). However, no statement has been made on the Trinidad and Tobago Government Website, where statements usually show up here.

The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce chimed in, and the police on high alert say, 'We know what we will be looking for.' Maybe that's hubris?

Port of Spain Mayor, Murchison Brown said his piece about the explosion, and the Mayor of San Fernando - in a completely unrelated story - was a short distance from a gun battle.

Taran's Perspective and Opinions

These facts and reportings demonstrate a few things. First of all, while this was not viewed as an act of terrorism, the police are now guarding facilities that they haven't been guarding before - and the soldiers have been ordered back to the barracks (meaning back from leave and liberty). That's a mixed signal - and it's questionable that if someone did claim responsibility that the media would be informed by the government. Then there's the idiocy of the Police Commissioner and his helicopter scattering physical evidence, which demonstrates an unreasonable amount of competence where competence is already held in question because of the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago.

Many people have been calling for a state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago for at least a year because of the violent crime; the reported crimes of robberies, murders and kidnappings aren't the only crimes that are happening. It is, perhaps, time for that to happen.

I am not quick to say that another election should be called, since both the present government and the present Opposition have been trading power for the last 20 years in various guises, but the people have not truly benefited under either party. Elections tend to be a game of musical chairs despite political affiliation. If the government with all the involved parties cannot sort out these problems now, an election will just cause a mixing of the same elements that have already failed the country.

In all, this was a horrid incident which serves as some form of punctuation mark for Trinidad and Tobago. We would hope that it would be an exclamation mark or a period, but it's quite likely a comma or semi-colon.