Tritol mania hits Albanians with fear and sarcasm

The wave of bombing with improvised explosive devices in Albania during the last months hit Albanians with fears and as well with a strong shot of sarcasm.

Police forces reported during the last few months alone scores of explosions all over the country targeting individuals, property and as well, police stations.

Improvised explosive devices known in Albania simply as “tritol” (TNT, because the widely used military explosive during communist Albania) hit a wide range of objectives causing in most cases, damages on cars and buildings, but in some cases deaths and terrible injuries.

The devices some time are simple ones with fuses but there is also an increased use of specialized bombings with magnets to attach bombs in cars or mobile phones to activate them in distance or in moving objectives.

“This could have been your own apartment”, wrote someone in Facebook, after a bomb exploded in the third floor of an apartment block in Tirana’s most affluent neighborhood. The owner of the apartment said the bombers probably hit him by mistake. His 62 years old sister was injured.

“I urge authorities to immediately install address labels all over the country; at least the bombers will not hit anyone by mistake”, commented another Facebook user.

The Ministry of Interiors was ridiculed this week when boldly declared that explosions in February were “20 per cent lower than February 2013”.

A blogger rebuked this claim providing a list of 31 bombings over the last five months.

Wide arrays of anecdotes circulate over this situation. One reported seeing someone controlling his car parked in a supermarket underground while his wife stood waiting several feet away.

Another reported a rich throwing the keys of his car to a poor doorkeeper telling him to “get the car out of parking for him”, supposedly scarifying the poor bloke in case of bombs.

The media reports most of people targeted by bombs as “businessman”, which is interpreted mostly as synonymous to “criminal”.