An anti-government activist who lost his hands in an explosion was building a bomb to use as a diversion during a bank or armored-car robbery, according to charges filed by a Columbus Fire Division investigator. The bomb contained the same explosive that was packed into suicide vests during the Nov. 13 terrorist attack in Paris.

An anti-government activist who lost his hands in an explosion was building a bomb to use as a diversion during a bank or armored-car robbery, according to charges filed by a Columbus Fire Division investigator.

The bomb contained the same explosive that was packed into suicide vests during the Nov. 13 terrorist attack in Paris.

Alphonso D. Mobley Jr., 26, who lost both hands in the Tuesday explosion at a vacant East Side house, and Roberto M. Innis Jr, 21, who was not injured, were each charged with possession and manufacture of a dangerous ordnance in Franklin County Municipal Court.

Innis changed his story several times before telling investigators that Mobley had been mixing chemicals to make a bomb in the kitchen of the house on South Hampton Road when there was an explosion about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Columbus fire investigator Matthew Staker alleged in a written complaint.

Innis also said that both men were members of Sovereign Citizens, an anti-government group whose members the FBI has labeled domestic terrorists, according to Battalion Chief Steve Martin, a spokesman for the Fire Division.

Mobley lives across the street from the vacant house. Innis, who has an address on Mayfair Boulevard in the same neighborhood, called 911 after the blast.

"An explosion happened and my friend is on the ground bleeding," Innis said. Asked by a fire dispatcher what exploded, Innis repeatedly said he didn't know because he was on the porch when it happened.

He said his friend's hands were "splattered" and that he was "unresponsive."

"He was handling something and it exploded?" the dispatcher asked.

"Yeah, his hands exploded," Innis answered.

Mobley was taken in serious condition to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center. Innis is scheduled to appear in Municipal Court this morning.

Staker's complaint says that Mobley was making triacetone triperoxide, or TATP. Six terrorists detonated their vests containing the same explosive in Paris. A BBC report following that attack said terrorists call the unstable chemical "the mother of Satan" because it's prone to go off prematurely.

An FBI report in 2010 called members of Sovereign Citizens "anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States." They believe that they don't have to answer to courts, pay taxes or register their vehicles, the report said.

A Columbus police officer ticketed Innis last month for driving without a license and for expired license tags on his vehicle.

"We believe these guys are an isolated cell" not associated with a wider operation, Martin said.The Fire Division's Fire & Explosives Unit was investigating the Tuesday explosion with the help of the State Fire Marshal's Office and the Columbus Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes agencies such as Columbus police, the Franklin County Sheriff's office and the FBI.

Authorities originally thought there had been a methamphetamine lab in the house. But when the State Fire Marshal's mobile laboratory at the scene tested the chemical substance found, it was "a highly energetic explosive mixture," Staker wrote.

Martin said officials feared the unmarked containers of chemicals were unsafe to carry out of the house, so they used a focused "counter-explosive" device to destroy them inside the building.

Officials had several options but considered that the lowest risk, Martin said. "Safety is always our No. 1 priority," he said.

Fire engines and crews were positioned around the house and six nearby homes were evacuated. Other residents within a one-block area were told to stay inside and keep windows closed.

The device was set off around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Martin said. "We knew the explosion might knock out some interior walls but were confident it would be contained inside the building," he said. Flames shot out of the house's windows and thick smoked roiled from the roof, but fire crews contained the blaze within minutes.

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