The initiating explosive appears to have been thermite but the main blast and fire were caused by a volatile aerosol inside a tranship container.

It increases the explosive shockwave from an initiating explosive to the degree sufficient to detonate the secondary charge.

The initiating explosive is called donor explosive, the initiated one is known as receptor explosive.

Agents found a laptop with a JPEG image of nine handwritten pages on how to make initiating explosives, main explosive charges, detonators, and fuses.

In fact, aryl diazonium perchlorates, such as nitrobenzenediazonium perchlorate, have been used in initiating explosives, and well dried, the tetrafluoroborates can be stored almost indefinitely at room temperature and decompose gently when heated.

While still quite sensitive to shock and friction, it was relatively stable compared to other initiating explosives of the time, such as mercury fulminate, and proved to be relatively inexpensive and easy to synthesise.

DDNP is often used as an initiating explosive in propellant primer devices and is a substitute for lead styphnate in what are termed "non-toxic" (lead free) priming explosive compositions.