New details emerge on MLK bomb

A “joint intelligence bulletin” issued on the day federal agents raided the Colville-area home of Kevin W. Harpham suggests that the bomb may have included a rocket motor igniter and was made in such a way to focus shrapnel at a specific target.

The bomb consisted of a steel pipe with a hole drilled at its base.

“The pipe was welded to a roughly cut steel plate,” according to the report, which was posted to a research Web site Wednesday.

The explosive charge was described as black powder, which was contained in a plastic bag.

“While not yet confirmed, the initiator appears similar to a rocket motor igniter,” the report states. “An RMI was used in a crude IED carried by a lone individual who took hostages and threatened employees in the Discovery Channel Building” in Silver Spring, Ma., on Sept. 1, 2010.

Read Tom Clouse’s full story here.

Past coverage:

March 13: Postings reveal suspect’s views

March 11: MLK bomb suspect wrote on race wars

March 10: White supremacist arrested in MLK bomb plot