Forensics find terror blasts links
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At least 23 people were killed in the blast at the U.N. headwuarters in Baghdad, including envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Forensic investigators in the United States say identical technology appears to have been adopted in bombs used in terror attacks on various continents in recent years.
The newly formed federal government team told Congress such bombings, including the May attack in Riyadh and the blast at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad last August, appear to have been taken from the same playbook with apparent design similarities.
"It's clear that there is a connection," Homeland Security Committee chairman, Rep. Christopher Cox said on Sunday.
"Because we are finding that the same designs for these bombs are showing up on different continents."
Studies by the newly formed Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, headquartered in an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, found 90 percent of bomb attacks against America in the past five years involved improvised explosive devices.
Additionally, there were links among makers of the devices used in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
U.S. officials have said for months that it is unclear whether al Qaeda or other extremist groups are behind many of the terror bombings in these regions.
But experts warn even if it were possible to find and capture the developers of the bomb plans, it would likely not stop future attacks.
"A lot of people are aware of how to make these bombs, and how to use them," said defense analyst Michael O'Hanlon from the Brookings Institutes .
"My fear is that al Qaeda may have gotten to that point, where they don't depend on any one, two or three people."
But Cox said the findings from the new operation, whose existence was made public last week, give the U.S. government the ability to take the initiative to prevent attacks.
"We're using intelligence proactively to make sure that we don't have to just clean up the mess but rather we prevent these things before they happen," he told CNN.
It is hoped the growing explosives databank will prove a useful tool for the Bush administration --which is committed to fighting terrorism -- and insight into the methods of attack its enemies prefer.
"What we are finding now is that the same kinds of devices, or at least apparently the same kinds of devices, are being deployed against our forces in Iraq," Cox said.
"It's a special problem because there's nobody to fire back at," he said.
"These can be remotely detonated devices, and we're having to fit all of our equipment there with shields so that we can protect our troops."
-- CNN Correspondent Kathleen Koch contributed to this report
