Ipswich explosions; possible terrorism

Reports on Thursday night of a chemical explosion at an Ipswich, (west of Brisbane) residence initially sounded like a meth lab had blown up.  This was followed by reports of police detonating jars of ‘volatile chemicals’ in the back yard.  No indication of the nature of these materials has been announced other than that they “can’t be bought at Woolworths.”

Two people, a 37 and a 43 year old, were taken to hospital, one with serious injuries to his hands including the loss of most of his fingers.  Another person was hospitalized the next day from a nearby address.  No identities have been published.

There are reports though of unexplained explosions in the area over previous months, and an ‘unexploded bomb’ was found at a business site several months ago.  We are possibly looking at terrorist activity here:

Homes and businesses are understood to have been evacuated around the Clay Street home with bomb squad and fire officers at the scene. Volatile chemicals, found in jars at the home, are being blown up in the backyard. 

… police are diverting traffic from West Ipswich after discovering more suspicious material in a home where an explosion injured three men last night. Specialist police are now conducting further examinations at the Clay Street home where an explosion occurred around 6.30pm Thursday. Police have declared an emergency situation under the Public Safety Preservation Act, directing traffic around the area, … 

… Neighbors spoke of hearing explosions regularly in the past three to four months, with an unexploded bomb even recently found at the Bunnings site several months ago - just across the road from the home involved in last night's incident. 

Forensics are now examining the Clay street home in West Ipswich after performing three further controlled explosions of the substances last night. Yamanto police acting inspector Geoff Noller said other investigations into explosions would be taken into account. …

After three days of searching, more explosives were found today and detonated by police.  These are now being referred to as ‘devices, which seems to preclude the possibility of accidental mixing and a strong possibility of terrorist activity: 

An emergency situation has been declared in West Ipswich where police found more material this morning. Two men were injured there on Thursday during a chemical explosion, and one lost several fingers. 

At about 9:30am (AEST) police asked residents in streets surrounding the site to stay indoors. Police sealed off several streets on Friday in order to detonate three more devices found at the home. …

There has been no mention of terror, nor names of the suspects, nor the nature of the ‘devices’, nor bombs, other than the one found at Bunnings.   A lot of items are adding up to that conclusion though.