The Black October Bombing
The Black October Bombing is a name given for the DSRO (The Secular Resistance) attack on the Nessic Department of Immigration in the city of Byre Shyfe, on October 27th, 2003, during the DSRO's war against Ness Ziona.
The reasons
In the DSRO special message that was broadcasted about 5 hours after the explosion, some of the reasons which made the attack happen are detailed:
- 4 large raids against DSRO camps by the Nessic Armed Forces, in which more than 500 DSRO members found their death, and which caused a lot of financial damage to the organization, not mentioning the loss of expensive and valuable equipment.
- The fact that by raiding the camps, the Nessic forces prevented the DSRO from fighting against the fanatic religious guerilla organizations in the area, thus practically supporting those organizations.
- The death of Arthur M. Lehrer, a known figure of the DSRO, though not a commander. He was shot by a Nessic sniper 3 days before the attack.
- The opportunity for a major attack against the Nessic government, in order to show it that it can’t win this war and that it should even consider leaving the northern area for the DSRO to handle. The government, of course, never accepted the offer.
The planning
According to DSRO documents that were uncovered by the Nessic forces during Operation Icecap, and many DSRO members who were caught and investigated by the military, the plan to hit the exact building in late 2003 was first presented in the beginning of 2001, before the Nessic War of Independence ended. The plan details the ways of entering the nation with explosives, or just in case, using explosives found or stolen in the nation itself. It also details a number of ways possible for attacking different symbols of the Nessic rule – Government offices and departments, federal banks, police stations, military camps, and alike, and even the predicted number of casualties from every attack, based on the types of explosives used and the location of the bomb or bombs. The part of the plan that refers to the Department of Immigration is one of the longest, and is mostly classified, because it details security arrangements and details on buildings around the department collected even a day before the attack. The people signed on this document, which were labeled most-wanted by the Nessic government, were not many:
- Allen Van-Dijk – Was captured during Operation Icecap and executed later by the nation of Soviet Trasa for different crimes.
- Tomas William Scott – Ness Ziona’s most wanted terrorist. He’s still active today, and was saved from 4 unsuccessful assassination attempts.
- Mark Lintz – Was also captured during Operation Icecap, but unlike his former commander, he wasn’t executed, and he’s currently in locked-up for the first years of his 562 year sentence.
- Eyra B’rdans – An explosive engineer and bomb-maker that was killed during one of the Nessic raids.
The attack
The morning of October 27th, 2003, was a cool cloudy Monday morning. The temperature was higher than the October average – only 3 degrees (C) above zero, and most people were out on the street, either going to work or coming back home from a night shift. Crescant Avenue, where the Department of Immigration building was, was one of the most crowded streets, given that is was full of shopping centers and offices. At about 11:45AM, a massive explosion rocked central Byre Shyfe, and the ground shook in an area of about 2sqkm. The blast wave broke windows in a distance of 1,500 meters from the explosion itself, and small pieces of structure were thrown, as reported, more than 4 blocks from the site. The 12 floor building practically vanished as tons of tons of concrete and steel collapsed down to street-level. Within seconds, the silence was broken and people began screaming and searching for others. Smoke filled the air as by-passers ran into the rubble and tried to save lives. The police and medical aid teams arrived to the blast site about 3 minutes after the first report was received and camera crews were also not late to come. The final body count, published on October 30th, caused public shock and mourning – 752 Nessic citizens and 36 Nessic soldiers were killed, and about 1,340 Nessics were wounded in different levels.
Timeline of the attack
- October 24th – A heavy truck passes through the northern border checkpoints, with authorization to pass without more checks through other checkpoints in the north. The truck was empty as it entered, and the driver declared his intention of driving to Byre Shyfe, in order to load up few equipment pieces for the military and drive north again.
- October 25th, the truck makes a short stop in the city of North Point, Ness Ziona, where a man – Orin Lankester – joins the driver in this ‘trip’.
- October 26th, the truck arrives at Byre Shyfe, where it’s parked in a warehouse in the center of the city. It’s believed that in that point, explosives which remained in Ness Ziona from the time of the war, were loaded on it.
- October 27th
- 09:00 – The truck leaves the warehouse and heads to Crescant Avenue, to the corner of the avenue and 8th street.
- 09:23 – The truck arrives at the target building and parks next to it.
- 09:28 – 2 guards from the western side of the building stop reporting, and another guard goes down to check the entrence.
- 09:31 – The extra guard reports the problem, and the place is locked up. All cars and trucks in the buildings are checked.
- 09:46 – The truck, marked as a goverment vehicle, and carries the Nessic military mark, is not checked.
- 10:54 – The building is opened to public for the day, and the lobby is filled with Nessic citiznes.
- 11:40 – 2 people are seen leaving the building’s underground parking lot, walking quickly.
- 11:44 – The local police station receives a cellphone call saying “Be prepared” and “We shall prevail”.
- 11:45 – 5 tons of military explosive detonate under the building.
- 11:47 – There is no building.
