A new report from NBC news says the suspect accused of a terrorist attack in New Orleans used an explosive so powerful it could have killed hundreds had the bombs worked. According to NBC, the explosive was so powerful that shrapnel could have been sprayed for hundreds of yards.

The bombs Shamsud-Din Jabbar built with the explosive known as RDX would have had devastating effects were it not for an amateurish blunder.

The attacker in the New Orleans vehicular attack used a rare explosive compound in two homemade bombs that failed to detonate, according to senior law enforcement officials. Investigators are examining how Shamsud-Din Jabbar learned about and produced a rare explosive never before used in U.