Vital clues in body part jigsaw puzzle By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 09/07/2005)
Daily Telegraph The man who is believed to have carried the No 30 bus bomb is being reassembled, piece by piece, in a mortuary in an effort that could reveal where he was born, how long he has been in Britain and the identity of his relatives. The use of DNA analysis, isotope studies and other methods to identify the bomber and his fragmented victims were described yesterday by Prof Sue Black, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Dundee, who has taken part in earlier efforts to identify remains in Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Sierra Leone and Iraq. Some of the victims can be identified by relatives, by their dental records, fingerprints or by their belongings. But the bodies of people close to the blasts were fragmented to varying degrees. The bomber's remains will be examined for the pattern of burning, explosives residues and bomb fragments. The human remains scattered around the sites of the bombings will be reassembled in the mortuary by a painstaking process of labelling and DNA testing of remains. "They will use DNA testing to bring every single piece back together again," Prof Black said. Relatives of those who are missing provide DNA samples for comparison with the victims to make a positive identity. In the case of the bomber, the DNA can be compared with that held in the national database to see if he or she had been convicted of a previous crime, or whether the DNA of relatives is present in the database. The face of the bomber may survive the blast. If not, a reconstruction of his skull can provide clues because it then becomes possible to build up a face manually, using clay, on a cast of a skull or using a computer program, using known measurements of the thickness of soft tissue at key areas on human faces. Another crucial clue will come from analysing the variants, or isotopes, of elements in the bones of the bomber, using isotope analysis, notably of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. These vary, depending on local diet and water, because bone constantly remodels itself. In effect, we are what we eat. "We can see if a change in diet has occurred. We can look at where someone has been located for up to two years," said Prof Black. "We could tell if they have been in the UK." Because there are isotope maps of the world, this method has proved invaluable. It was used, for example, to identify the origin of "Adam", the torso of a boy believed to have been the victim of a ritual killing, discovered in the Thames. Prof Ken Pye, a forensic geologist from Royal Holloway, University of London, used strontium isotopes to narrow Adam's place of origin down to a large stretch of Nigeria. Isotope analysis of the teeth will reveal where the bomber was raised. With bone analysis, and antibody analysis to show what diseases the bomber had been exposed to, the forensic study could reveal the origins of the bomber. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
