Northeastern Uni Explosion 'Reminiscent of Unabomber'—Terrorism Author

The reported explosion at Northeastern University in Massachusetts on Tuesday, when a package was said to have detonated whilst being opened by a member of staff, was "reminiscent of [the] Unabomber" according to a counter-terrorism expert.

Both the police and FBI are investigating the reported explosion which left the 45-year-old member of staff, who was later taken to hospital, with "minor injuries to his hand." The device had been sent to Northeastern's virtual reality center.

A second suspect package was found nearby by Boston Police's bomb squad, close to the city's Museum of Fine Arts.

Law enforcement insiders told CNN the first package included a note criticizing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with academic work in the field of virtual reality.

Reacting to the news, terrorism expert Brian J. Phillips, coauthor of 'Insurgent Terrorism: Intergroup Relationships and the Killing of Civilians', tweeted: "Reminiscent of Unabomber."

Speaking to Newsweek, he added: "When I saw the first news, I thought of the Unabomber.

"The Unabomber was motivated by an anti-technology ideology, and he sent most of his bombs to universities.

"It's early in the investigation, but this also seems to be a small or rudimentary bomb, and the Unabomber's devices were relatively simple as well. The Unabomber usually didn't attempt to carry out mass-casualty attacks—he typically tried to kill the person opening the package."

Between 1978 and 1995, the Unabomber, real name Ted Kaczynski, killed three people and injured another 23 in a sustained bombing campaign across the United States.

He targeted those involved with modern technology, including, university academics and computer stores, along with those he perceived as being involved in environmental damage. Many of his bombs were hand-crafted from wood.

Kaczynski's first bomb was sent to Professor Buckley Crist, an expert in materials engineering at Northwestern University in 1978. It exploded whilst being opened by campus police officer Terry Marker, leaving him with minor injuries.

He subsequently sent bombs to engineering and computer science academics at the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University and the University of California.

In 1985 Kaczynski's bombing campaign turned deadly, killing a computer shop owner in Sacramento, California.

He later killed a PR executive who had worked with a major oil company and the president of a timber industry lobby group.

In 1995 Kaczynski, a Harvard math graduate, pledged to "desist from terrorism" if a major newspaper published his 35,000-word essay Industrial Society and Its Future, better known as the Unabomber manifesto.

This was published by The Washington Post, and led to Kaczynski's arrest the following year after his brother recognized his writing style, and reported him to the police.

Phillips suggested the Northeastern University explosion could be connected to a loose "eco-terrorist movement."

He said: "There are neo-Luddite or anti-technology movements in many countries, often loosely connected with others. Some are part of the so-called eco-terrorist movement. They haven't been very effective at carrying out much violence, or they haven't wanted to cause much harm.

"This could be connected to a movement, or it could be one individual, like the Unabomber was. But these days even "lone actors" often get inspiration online, and are frequently part of an online community."

Kaczynski was arrested at his remote log cabin near Lincoln, Montana in 1996 and was later sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the bombing spree.

In December 2021 Kaczynski was transferred from prison to a medical facility for prisoners in North Carolina. He had previously been serving a life sentence without possibility of parole at a supermax prison in Colorado.

Updated on 10/04/2022 at 1:31 p.m. ET. The reported explosion was later described by authorities as a hoax, several media reported