Wichita incident (Allied States)

The events surrounding the detonation of a nuclear device southeast of the Kansan city of Wichita is known by the following names, most notably the Wichita incident, Operation Lookaround or the July 2009 attacks. On 9 July 2009, the Bureau of State Security intercepted a terrorist group planning on detonating a 100 kiloton nuclear device in central Wichita, Kansas. Although the BSS agents were able to intercept the device before detonation in Riverside, its timer had already begun counting down, and no assets able to defuse the bomb were available.
The bomb was swiftly driven out of the city into the surrounding countryside and partially buried a few miles southeast of Naval Air Station McConnell (formerly McConnell Air Force Base). The detonation only claimed the lives of the agents who volunteered to bury the device, and amounted to billions of dollars of damage. The events leading up to the incident as well as subsequent events lead to the death of more than 70 Columbardian government agents. 
The event, even though it claimed so few lives, is known as the single most catastrophic attack on a modern Western nation.
== Overview ==
=== Background ===
Since 2004 when the Allied States seceded from the Union, its War on Terror did not end. Many Americans (now Columbardians) still wanted the AS to be involved in bringing justice to those who attacked the United States three years prior. The new Allied States government, however, while remaining in Afghanistan, sent Bureau of State Security (BSS) agents into Iran and Pakistan to monitor possible terrorist activities transpiring there as well.
BSS agents raided a small Al Qaeda base in the far northeast region of Iran and found intelligence confirming that the terrorist group was planning yet another attack on America. Which one of the new Americas, however, was unknown. The joint-Americas intelligence community soon gathered to analyze the gained information together. The Central Intelligence Agency (CSI) and the BSS deployed more assets into Iran.
On 23 August 2007, a CIA asset close to a Saudi Arabian prince reports that said prince may be funding an Al Qaeda operation in North America. Less than a week later, an ex-Iraqi Republican Guard who owns a convenience store in Galveston, Texas, enters the spotlight. He had been off the grid for more than six months when suddenly he reopens his store. Fragments of the Saudi prince's money lead to this store. All ensuing customers are monitored. The store then suddenly closes for a second time on 3 September. In that time span, over 70 people have used the store. Checks are ordered on all of them.
The trial eventually led to a couple which recently bought a home near the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, a hub for the AS presidential plane. This purchase is warrant enough for the BSS to focus on said couple. The man, known only as Raqieem (a pseudonym released by the BSS), has made several recent trips to Pakistan and Iran. The house is later confirmed to have a perfect line of sight with the hanger in which the presidential plane is housed.
Raqieem's wife was found executed near a mosque in Houston on 13 September, with Raqieem nowhere to be found. An all points bulletin was issued on him shortly afterwards, and he was apprehended at a Mexican border post on 15 September. He quickly reveals that they were tasked with buying the house and to wait for a visitor, who would probably be a highly skilled marksman, capable of shooting the president when boarding the presidential plane. Raqieem notes that the visitor did come by and spent time on their house's roof, watching the airport, however abruptly left never to return.
In mid-December 2007, an Israeli nuclear device is stolen after a convoy moving it is attacked by pro-Palestinian forces. The IDF is unable to stop the device from leaving the country and disappearing off the grid. The BSS considers that the device may be used in an attack on North America. The Confederate Intelligence Center (CIC) reported on 27 December that an ex-Lebanese Ground Forces captain had entered the Confederate States at a border post in Louisiana. The captain, known only as "Captain Hammed" (a pseudonym), comes up as one of Lebanon's foremost military marksmen. He is subsequently apprehended in New Orleans.
The apprehension of Hammed by the CIC, however, was public, which forced the Center to free him in on 2 February 2008. Hammed was thought to have left the Confederate States via New Orleans back to Lebanon. In reality, it was later revealed, that he changed his identity and returned to the Allied States after contacting Al Qaeda's North American cell, in Montgomery, Alabama. The cell was raided by joint-BSS, CIA and CIC forces in May of 2008, where intelligence gathered suggested that the missing Israeli nuclear device had entered North America via Seattle, Washington, in Cascadia.
After coming up empty of where the device could be on the continent, a massive hunt for the device starts in early June. Security in airports, border posts, ports are tightened and roadblocks across the entire continent, including Alaska, Quebec and Mexico are set up. On 4 November 2008 a raid conducted by BSS agents in Lebanon reveals intelligence suggesting a high-ranking member of the BSS is involved with a plot to detonate a nuclear device on Allied States soil. It is decided that the agent would be followed however not confronted.
January through March 2009 shows the agent repeatedly visiting a laundromat in Lawrence, Kansas. It is decided that a permanent stake operation would be set up at the laundromat, which reveals it is owned by a Pakistani man who has lived in America for well over a decade. The building was subsequently entered on 11 May by twelve BSS agents. While looking for intel in the store, seven men armed with assault rifles and riot gear enter the store and kill everyone inside. Security cameras reveal a container large enough to hold the nuclear device being removed from the store.
After the Lawrence massacre, the BSS decides to arrest the double agent. He remains in custody until 2 July 2009 without giving any intel and denying being involved with Al Qaeda. On 2 July, he finally admits to being part of an Al Qaeda operation involving an attack on America, but denies knowing about the nuclear device. He claims the plan was to shoot and kill the president on his visit to Wichita on the ninth of the same month. The BSS quickly informs the Secret Service, which takes the president underground.
=== 9 July 2009 ===
The president's visit was not publicly canceled. Instead, the BSS hoped to catch Captain Hammed in Wichita and interrogate him concerning the nuclear device. BSS, CIA and CIC agents are positioned around the Central Riverside Park. A presidential double, wearing full protective gear under his suit, is sent to keep up the illusion that the president will be present. Meanwhile, an FJB agent still working on the Lawrence case concludes that the vehicle used by the armed terrorist team was a white van. He quickly relays the information to BSS command, which informs agents on the ground in Riverside.
Around 14:00 when the presidential convoy arrived, a white van is spotted in a parking lot nearby. As the presidential double leaves his vehicle and moves for the podium, Captain Hammed fires, hitting the double in his Kevlar vest. Hammed is subsequently arrest after giving away his position. When searching the van, the BSS agents find the nuclear device, which is counting down. Having not suspected the device to be present, no nuclear bomb defusal team is on hand. The nearest at the time would have been more than 30 minutes away.
Having little to no time, the bomb is swiftly taken out of the city via helicopter into the rural farmland southeast of Naval Air Station McConnell (formerly McConnell AFB). En route there, the area, including the air station, was evacuated by local law enforcement. Two agents, identified as Agent George Ramsfield and Agent Paul Durant, volunteer to bury the bomb as deep as they can within the remaining 10 minutes. The device detonated around 14:38, and claimed only the lives of the Agents Ramsfield and Durant. The ensuing radioactive waste was quickly disposed of when the detonation zone was quarantined and nearby soil removed. Portions of southeast Wichita were evacuated for up to 3 weeks, until it was deemed safe.
=== Aftermath ===
The conspirators were quickly identified afterwards by Captain Hammed as well as collected intel in Iran and Lebanon from July through November of 2009. Nine terrorists were arrested in the Allied States, three in the United States, one in Cascadia and a further fourteen throughout the Middle East. The raids claimed the lives of other intelligence community agents, totaling Columbardian deaths to 72 throughout the entire span of the incident. 30 United States agents and 11 Confederate States agents also lost their lives. 
== Depictions in popular culture ==
== See also ==
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category:Events