TEL AVIV — Israel's military has identified a significant
improvement in the effectiveness of improvised explosive devices produced by
Palestinian militias in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Officials said the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip as well as militias in
the West Bank have adopted IED production methods used by Al Qaida in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
In August 2009, the army's Ground Forces Command conducted tests of the
IEDs found in attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Middle East Newsline reported. For the first time,
the bombs were said to have contained tungsten, a metal designed to enhance
the penetration capability of the blast.
They said the bombs found in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were capable of penetrating Israeli armored vehicles.
Military sources said the IEDs appeared to be similar to those found in
Afghanistan and Iraq. The sources said the Israel Army has been consulting
with its counterparts in Britain and the United States.
"It is clear to us that these explosive devices came from the same
school," a senior Israeli officer said.
The IEDs were first detected in the Gaza Strip in early 2009, the
sources said. They said the bombs were apparently assembled by Hamas
specialists trained by Al Qaida and Iranian experts over the last year.
"The Israel Defense Forces believes that explosives experts who entered
Gaza from Egypt through smuggling tunnels are responsible for the
development of the bombs," the Israeli daily Haaretz said.
The sources said Hamas as well as the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad
were said to have undergone instruction in assembling the enhanced IEDs.
They said the army was developing counter-measures against the tungsten
bombs.
