World Tribune.com

IEDs 'four times more powerful' than in 2004

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, November 2, 2005

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."


Copyright © 2005 East West Services, Inc.

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