FBI Says Domestic Terrorism May Be Behind IRS Bombings

As workers went back to processing tax returns Tuesday, the FBI tried to figure out who lobbed pipe bombs at the Internal Revenue Service center here and why.

Agents are investigating the possibility that the assault involved “domestic terrorism,” said special agent George Vinson.

“It looks like more than one person is involved in this situation, simply because of the numbers and type of equipment,” Vinson said at a press briefing.

Agents are searching for a connection with bomb attempts at IRS offices in Los Angeles 200 miles south and bombings of other types of facilities across the nation, Vinson added.

No one has claimed responsibility for the Fresno IRS assault, he said.

Nine devices were launched from a field east of the regional IRS center during the noon hour Monday, including one that landed on a roof in the sprawling collection of buildings, Police Lt. Larry McIntyre said.

The pipe bomb on the roof did not explode, but five or six others did. No one was reported injured. At least four cars in the IRS parking lot were damaged, including one left with a hole in its roof, said William Vizzard, agent in charge of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office here.

Vizzard said the homemade devices were sophisticated enough to have been triggered by remote control or a detonator to let the bomber get away before they went off.

One bomb soared at least a quarter of a mile before exploding in the driveway of an apartment across the street from the IRS, he added. Another bomb was placed outside an IRS union office near that complex on Sunday and blew out some apartment windows.

No threats have been received recently at the Fresno office as workers gear up for the April 15 filing deadline, Rodriguez said. Its more than 5,000 employees process more than 10 million returns a year from Hawaii and all of California except the Sacramento district.