BAGHDAD — U.S. military officials said roadside bombs or improvised
explosive devices used by Sunni insurgents have four times the blast impact
as those deployed in 2004.
"These IEDs are four times more powerful than even those we saw in late
2004," an official said. "Armor plating cannot stop these bombs, period."
Officials say insurgents have been aided by Iranian
and Hizbullah experts to assemble precision shaped charges, designed to
focus a blast on a small area and capable of penetrating most U.S.
military ground vehicles.
As a result, 61 percent of all U.S. fatalities in Iraq stem from the new
IEDs. Officials said the IEDs were often comprised of Iranian-origin TNT,
said to be up to seven times stronger than that produced in Iraq.
The IEDs have been filled with rocket propellant to increase the speed
of the shells or shrapnel. They are usually detonated by a cellular phone or
a garage door opener.
More than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the
invasion in March 2003. About half of the casualties took place over the
last year.
Officials said U.S. soldiers detect and neutralize between 60 to 75
percent of IEDs. But the impact of the blast from the new bombs have often
been
lethal and have killed at least 50 soldiers since July 2005.
Precision shaped charges appeared in Iraq in mid-2005 and have usually
been comprised of 120 mm or 155 mm artillery rounds combined with up to
eight kilograms of rocket propellant. The IED is then placed on a solid and
smooth surface to increase the impact of the blast.
"We see an adversary that continues to develop some sophistication on
very deadly and increasingly precise stand-off type weapons — IEDs, in
particular," Defense Department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said.
"We're getting more intelligence that's allowing us to stop more of
these things, find more of them," Di Rita told a briefing on Oct. 31. "So
we're learning from them and the enemy is learning from us, and it's going
to be that way for as long as there is an insurgency."
On Oct. 31, six U.S. soldiers were killed in IED strikes. Four of the
soldiers died when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb southwest of
Baghdad. Another two were killed by a roadside bomb during a patrol north of
Logistics Support Area Anaconda.
[On Wednesday, a U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopter crashed in Iraq.
The military said two people were killed in the downing of the AH-1W Super
Cobra near Ramadi.]
On Oct. 29, the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th
Brigade Combat Team found two vehicle bombs in south Baghdad. The first
truck contained four 122 mm rounds, and the second vehicle contained three
130 mm and two 122 mm rounds.
Officials said the latest IEDs have succeeded in killing soldiers in
heavily armored vehicles, such as the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle,
which weighs 22 tons. They said the five-ton, armor-plated Humvees combat
vehicle stands no chance against the IEDs.
The IEDs have been used mostly by Al Qaida insurgents led by Abu Mussib
Al Zarqawi. Officials said Al Zarqawi has gained access to military
warehouses and stole missiles to assemble the shaped explosive charges.
The Defense Department and U.S. Navy have established panels to evaluate
technologies to detect and foil IED attacks. But officials said a
technological solution appears years away.
"We are continuing to work through all of our technologies, tactics,
techniques and procedures to provide to our soldiers and Marines on the
ground the best possible personal protection, not only in the form of armor,
but also in how we operate on the battlefield," Gen. Peter Pace, the new
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Iraqi and U.S. forces — trained to detect roadside
bombs — have redoubled efforts to find IED factories and insurgency
experts. Officials said that in the first three weeks of
October, the military captured 1,300 rockets, 1,300 mortars and 2,800
artillery rounds in Iraq.
"Given the desires of the insurgents, all those munitions would have
been made into IEDs and VBIED [vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices],"
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the chief U.S.-led coalition spokesman, said. "What
are detailed, deliberate operations — joint and combined with Iraqi
security forces — led by tips by the locals, have allowed us to find and
destroy these munitions."