Bombs Found on Chemical Tanks Near Norfolk Base

Police safely disarmed or detonated two pipe bomb clusters found Monday attached to two huge chemical tanks five miles from the U.S. Navy base at Norfolk, Va., law enforcement officials said.

The FBI immediately took command of the investigation “because of the potential for a terrorism connection,” a spokesman said.

But the spokesman added that there was “no specific information” suggesting the motive was terrorism, noting that no individual or group has claimed responsibility for the devices fixed to the tanks at Allied Terminals Inc., a commercial port.

If the bombs are determined to be the work of terrorists, it would be the first instance of war-related terrorism in the United States since the outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf on Jan. 17. The first cluster, attached to a 1-million-gallon tank of methanol, was found by an Allied Terminals employee, and a one-square-mile area was evacuated. Methanol is a volatile and flammable chemical used for fuel, in solvents and in antifreeze.

That cluster was disarmed and removed, according to Bob Jasinowski, a special agent for the Virginia state police.

A search of the tank farm, which includes about 15 tanks, turned up a second cluster of pipe bombs, affixed to a nearby 3-million-gallon container of sodium sulfide, a chemical used to make fertilizer, authorities said. The tank was about one-third full.

Police officials took those explosives to a safe area and detonated them without incident, the authorities said.

A fire official said the bombs probably would not have had enough power to rupture the tanks but could have caused an explosive fire.

The tank farm is not used by the military and is not considered a high-risk site for terrorism, a company spokesman said.

After news about the pipe bombs spread, someone called authorities to warn about a bomb at the nearby Miller Oil Co. However, no bomb was found.