6 More Bombs Are Found in Midwest

A rash of pipe-bomb incidents spread westward Saturday with the discovery of explosive devices in six rural mailboxes in eastern Nebraska. Federal agents descended on the region to investigate links to bombs found a day earlier in Iowa and Illinois.

None of the pipe bombs in Nebraska exploded, and no one was reported hurt, authorities said. Fourteen pipe bombs have now been found since Friday, widening what the FBI described as a “domestic terrorism” investigation.

At least one of the six pipe bombs found in Nebraska included a note. Although it was damaged when authorities detonated the pipe bomb, investigators suspect that the note may be similar to an angry, rambling letter left with each of the Iowa and Illinois pipe bombs. That note said the bombs were an “attention getter” to expose government abuses.

Federal authorities in Nebraska and Iowa called Saturday on whoever planted the bombs to turn himself in before someone else gets hurt. Six people were injured in Friday’s attacks, one seriously, and a 14-year-old girl in Iowa narrowly escaped injury when she was delivering newspapers, authorities said.

“To whoever is involved, very definitely they do have our attention,” Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns said at a news conference. “We have heard you.”

The pipe bombs found Saturday in Nebraska--in Davenport, Ohiowa, Scotia, Cairo, Columbus and Seward--appeared to be similar to those discovered Friday in northwest Illinois and eastern Iowa, authorities said. FBI agent Weysan Dun described the Nebraska devices as “metallic pipes of roughly 1 inch by 6 inches long, in some cases with wires or a battery.”

None of the bombs in any of the three states was sent through the mail.

But for the second time since last fall--when the spread of anthrax through the mail on the East Coast killed five people and sickened many others--postal authorities were warning people Saturday to take extra precautions to guard against attacks. Postal officials said people handling parcels in roadside mailboxes in rural areas--the kind used in most of the attacks since Friday--should use “extreme caution.”

“If customers see wires, strings or other suspicious materials on, in, or around their mailboxes or see any suspicious activity around mailboxes, they should immediately leave the area and contact local law enforcement agents,” U.S. postal officials in Iowa said.

In Davenport, Neb., the pipe bomb was discovered Saturday when a homeowner noticed that a package looked suspicious and appeared to have something attached to it. He threw it in a ditch and called police, neighbors said.

Although no one was hurt in Nebraska, residents were clearly unnerved.

“I think everybody around here is pretty shocked for a rural area like ours to have such things going on,” said a manager at a Davenport grocery, who asked that her name not be used because “I don’t want someone to put one in my mailbox.”

At the grocery, people were speculating Saturday about whether the culprit had headed west from Iowa along Interstate 80 or whether the latest bombs might be the work of a copycat bomber. “We just don’t know what to make of this,” the manager said.

“I guess we all better keep on our toes,” said Keith Hermann, 28, of Grand Island, Neb., manager of a restaurant near another site where a pipe bomb was found.

The bomb found in Ohiowa, population 125, was the talk of the town Saturday--and everybody was asking Cathy Meyer about it. She was Ohiowa’s postmaster until two weeks ago, when budget cuts hit and she was laid off.

“We’re out in the middle of no man’s land,” Meyer said. “I don’t know what they’re doing out here.”

The Seward bomb, which appeared to include a note, was found in a residential area late Saturday night. It was similar to the other devices and was detonated by the Nebraska State Patrol without injury, a spokeswoman said.

The pipe bombs did not prompt officials in Washington to take any immediate steps to raise the threat level under a terrorist warning system put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The threat level stands at “yellow,” third in a five-tier system, signifying that there is a “significant” risk of a terrorist attack.

White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said, “Authorities at all levels are monitoring the situation.”

In addition to urging people to take precautions in handling mail, authorities asked the public to carefully study the language used in Friday’s notes in the hopes of identifying who wrote them. That investigative tool helped lead authorities to Unabomber Theodore A. Kaczynski, whose brother recognized language that Kaczynski used in an anti-government manifesto published in several newspapers.

In Friday’s notes, the suspect began his missive by saying: “Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask?”

The note went on to discuss death, wealth and freedom, and said: “If the government controls what you want to do, they control what you do.

“I’m obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More info is on the way. More ‘attention getters’ are on the way,” the note warned.

Federal officials in Nebraska said they have been in contact with their counterparts in Iowa and Illinois to coordinate their investigations. Officials said they have “a number of promising leads” but said their best hope is for the culprit to turn himself in.

“We want to assure this individual that we are actively listening to what he has to say,” said Charles W. Larson Sr., the U.S. attorney for the northern district of Iowa, echoing sentiments expressed by Nebraska authorities. “We hope he will take this opportunity to resolve this situation without further injury or unnecessary loss of life to innocent people.”