http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/07/10/1120934128777.html
Hunt for bus bomber goes molecular By Roger Highfield in London July 11, 2005 The body of the person believed to have carried the No. 30 bus bomb is being reassembled, piece by piece, in a mortuary in an effort that could reveal where he or she was born and the identity of relatives. The use of DNA analysis, isotope studies and other methods to identify the bomber and his fragmented victims were described on Friday by Professor Sue Black, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Dundee, who has taken part in efforts to identify remains in Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Sierra Leone and Iraq. Some of the victims can be identified by relatives, by their dental records, fingerprints or belongings. But the bodies of people close to the blasts were fragmented. The bomber's remains will be examined for the pattern of burning, explosives residues and bomb fragments. The human remains scattered around the sites of the bombings will be reassembled in the mortuary by a painstaking process of labelling and DNA testing. Relatives of those who are missing are to provide DNA samples for comparison with the victims to make a positive identity. In the case of the bomber, the DNA can be compared with that held in the national database to see if he or she had been convicted of a previous crime, or whether the DNA of relatives is present in the database. The face of the bomber may have survived the blast. If not, a reconstruction of his skull can provide clues because it then becomes possible to build up a face manually using clay on a cast of a skull, or by a computer program using known measurements of the thickness of soft tissue at key areas on the face. Another crucial clue will come from analysing the variants, or isotopes, of elements in the bones of the bomber, using isotope analysis, notably of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. These vary, depending on local diet and water, because bone constantly remodels itself. In effect, we are what we eat. "We can see if a change in diet has occurred. We can look at where someone has been located for up to two years," Professor Black said. "We could tell if they have been in the UK." Because there are isotope maps of the world, this method has proved invaluable. It was used, for example, to identify the origin of "Adam", the torso of a boy believed to have been the victim of a ritual killing, discovered in the Thames. Professor Ken Pye, a forensic geologist at the University of London, used strontium isotopes to narrow Adam's place of origin to a large part of Nigeria. Isotope analysis of the teeth will reveal where the bomber was raised. With bone and antibody analysis to show what diseases the bomber had been exposed to, the forensic study could reveal the origins of the bomber. Telegraph, London -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
