S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)

News Analysis – Day 10 of Missing MH370: More Questions Than Answers; Experts Cautious on Terror Attack Theory

The Straits Times

18 March 2014

IS THE case of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane a bid to stage an attack similar to the 9/11 attacks, with perpetrators hoping to crash the jet into buildings in a major city in the region?
Is the plane’s disappearance engineered by a lone-wolf operator or a group with terrorist links?

These are some of the questions being discussed in terrorism analysis circles as a probe deepens into the case of Flight MH370, which went missing in the early hours of March 8 with 239 people on board, many of them from China.

In particular, the theory of a 9/11-style attack was triggered by revelations last week from Al-Qaeda informant Saajid Badat that a group of Malaysians had been planning to take control of a Malaysia Airlines plane by blowing up the cockpit door with a bomb hidden in a shoe.

… “An incident of this magnitude has to have a trail,” said Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna.

“If pilot error and mechanical failure have been discounted, and the Malaysian Prime Minister has said it was deliberate, the possibilities are that it could be a criminal act, a terrorist attack or one driven by psychological stress,” said the head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

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