N204 is nitrogen tetroxide and it is the mother of all oxidizers. It's used in hypergolic reactions with hydrazine and its derivatives to create rocket propulsion.
"Baking" it is notoriously stupid, as it exposing it to air or to your skin. It can be stored in appropriate containers for a number of weeks.
If by "thermobaric bomb" the author means a fuel-air explosion, then that's exactly what occurred. He's simply proposing the intentional equivalent of what will happen accidentally in a variety of circumstances, including fuel dispersion in a collision. This type of reasoning is exactly why Occam's Razor is necessary. We don't need to propose an intentional device when the circumstances naturally produced a fuel-air explosion.
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