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FBI finds explosives in Nichols' former home

By Associated Press
Published April 2, 2005

WASHINGTON - Pursuing information they missed evidence a decade ago, FBI agents searched the former home of convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and found blasting caps and other explosive materials that appear related to the April 19, 1995, attack, officials said Friday.

FBI officials said the material was found buried in a crawl space of the house in Herington, Kan., which wasn't checked by agents during numerous searches during the original investigation of Nichols and Timothy McVeigh.

The discovery, just three weeks from the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, is likely to prove a new embarrassment to an FBI already burned by missteps in this case and the pre-Sept. 11 period.

Nichols, who is serving multiple life prison sentences on federal and state charges, hasn't lived at the property for years.

FBI Agent Gary Johnson said the FBI was still searching the property and trying to determine how the explosive materials might be connected to the bombing and how the information came to light.

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