Donna Quexada: Military-Industrial Complex
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Taliban perfect 'almost undetectable' IED with no metal or electronic parts"Taliban fighters have developed a deadly new generation of . . . IED, which is almost undetectable because it has no metal or electronic parts, the London Independent reported Sunday, citing "military experts."[1] -- "[T]he new weapons [are] being manufactured from wood in Pakistan," Andrew Johnson said. -- "One brigade commander posted to Afghanistan said that sniffer dogs were the most reliable way of detecting IEDs, but this method took a long time and required a lot of animals. Already convoys have to move at very slow speeds while roads ahead are checked for explosives. -- He added his troops were becoming 'IED-shy,' because of the stress levels created by this new generation of weapons." -- And no wonder: some twenty "foreign forces," including four Americans on Wednesday alone, have been killed in Afghanistan since Jan. 1, AFP reported Thursday.[2] -- So far the news of IED's made of wood does not seem to have been reported in U.S. media, a Google News search indicates. -- But a blogger writing on the website Fire Dog Lake who claimed to earn his living as a bomb disposal officer noted Sunday that "[t]hese bombs are anything but improvised — it's a very cleverly designed mass produced bomb." -- He said he expects the percentage of coalition fatalities from IEDs in Afghanistan to rise considerable from its present 60% "as [a] direct result of the development of these very difficult-to-detect bombs and mines." -- He noted also that "A slow moving convoy is a very vulnerable convoy." ... 1. World Asia
TALIBAN MAKE 'UNDETECTABLE' BOMBS OUT OF WOOD
Independent (London) Taliban fighters have developed a deadly new generation of their most lethal weapon, the improvised explosive device, or IED, which is almost undetectable because it has no metal or electronic parts, military experts said last week. IEDs have proved the Taliban's most deadly weapon: three out of five coalition troops killed last year in Afghanistan were victims of the bombs. At least 48 of the 108 British fatalities were caused by IEDs. Chris Hunter, a former bomb disposal expert who served in Iraq and now runs his own consultancy said the new weapons were being manufactured from wood in Pakistan. "The expertise for this new generation of bombs is likely to be coming from foreign fighters from places such as Chechnya," he said. "But they are being mass produced in Pakistan and are being wheeled out on an industrial level. You see them everywhere." Earlier in the war, IEDs would be mostly triggered by two hack-saw blades separated using a spacer. When the blades were stepped on or driven over they would complete an electronic circuit which so detonated the explosive -- often an artillery shell. Mr. Hunter added that the metal saw blades have now also been replaced with graphite blades and the artillery shells with ammonium nitrate. The damage is caused by the power of the blast rather than metal fragments, or shrapnel. The number of IEDs used in Afghanistan has increased by 400 per cent since 2007 and the number of troops killed by them by 400 per cent, and those wounded by 700 per cent according to a report by a U.S. group called Homeland Security Market Research. One brigade commander posted to Afghanistan said that sniffer dogs were the most reliable way of detecting IEDs, but this method took a long time and required a lot of animals. Already convoys have to move at very slow speeds while roads ahead are checked for explosives. He added his troops were becoming "IED-shy," because of the stress levels created by this new generation of weapons. 2.
FOUR U.S. TROOPS, FRENCH SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
Agence France-Presse http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5igMWj-ge6d0mP4dGC5JWOK5XsfzQ KABUL -- Four U.S. troops and a French soldier were killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan on Wednesday as the U.N. reported the deadliest year yet for civilians in a spiralling Taliban-led insurgency. Two U.S. soldiers died in an IED (improvised explosive device) strike in the east of the country. Another died in fighting, also in the east, and a fourth died of wounds suffered in an IED explosion in the south. The French defense ministry said a non-commissioned officer died on the road between Bagram and Nijrab in the east, the third French soldier to die in as many days. Meanwhile, four Afghan military engineers and a civilian were killed when a bomb device they were trying to defuse went off in the eastern province of Khost, said Zahir Wardak, a senior military official. The latest fatalities come a day after seven people died in violence at a protest against an alleged desecration of the Koran by foreign forces, officials said. "Two ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) service members from the United States were killed today as a result of an IED (improvised explosive device) strike in eastern Afghanistan," the force said in a statement. A later ISAF statement said: "An ISAF service member from the United States was killed today during an engagement with insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. In a separate engagement another ISAF service member from the United States died of his wounds today as a result of an IED strike in southern Afghanistan." The deaths took to around 20 the number of foreign forces killed in Afghanistan since the start of the year, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the independent icasualties.org website. In southern Kandahar province, a hub of Taliban activity, a militant detonated a truck bomb near government installations in Daman district, injuring three police and as many civilians, the interior ministry said. Civilians are increasingly being caught in the crossfire of the Afghan war, the United Nations said in a report on Wednesday, with 2,412 killed in 2009, the highest toll since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. This is up 14 percent from the 2,118 civilians who died in 2008, and the vast majority of the dead were killed in Taliban attacks, the U.N.'s Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in its report. UNAMA's head of human rights Norah Niland said 67 percent of last year's civilian deaths, or 1,630, were in insurgent attacks, while pro-government forces including NATO and U.S. troops were responsible for 25 percent, or 596 civilian deaths. The deadliest months were August, with 333 deaths, and September, with 336, she told reporters. "The good news is that, in part, the number of casualties is not keeping pace (with) warfare incidents," Niland said, referring to an escalation in fighting as the insurgency has spread its shadow across the country. NATO had "reduced the number of air strikes in residential areas and the figures of casualties as a result of air strikes has come down significantly," she said. But an influx of foreign troops over the course of 2010, as a new counter-insurgency strategy takes hold, meant "much more warfare and that's bad news for Afghan civilians," Niland said. Civilian casualties are a source of tension between the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai and the international forces fighting the insurgency. Karzai uses the issue to press home his authority, draw support for his unpopular government while criticising the tactics of the foreign forces. The report's release comes a day after seven people were killed during protests sparked by rumours foreign troops had desecrated the Koran. The toll was given by an official, blaming Taliban for inciting the unrest. Investigators sent to the southern province of Helmand found that no desecration of the Muslim holy book had taken place in the military operation Monday, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor. It followed earlier reports that nine people were killed during the demonstration in Gamsir district. The United States and NATO have 113,000 troops leading the fight against the Taliban, with another 40,000 being deployed over the course of this year.
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