UN: Taliban Using "Magnetic IEDs" to Target

[The Bread Guy]

Not truly news, per se, but some details interestingly spotted in the latest UN report on civilian casualties (.pdf) - I won't even start on MSM coverage of the report ignoring Taliban violations of int'l conventions using IEDs and suicide bombs.

UNAMA Human Rights also recorded a new trend emerging in May and June 2009, whereby magnetic IEDs attached to vehicles were used to target a variety of individuals who mainly work with the government or international military forces. On 29 May 2009, a Provincial Council candidate was killed by a magnetic IED attached to his vehicle in Khost. On 26 June 2009 in the market place of Khost city, a translator working for the international military forcers was killed, and 4 others were injured, by a magnetic IED attached to his vehicle. On 27 June 2009, a magnetic IED exploded under a vehicle belonging to an individual who reportedly provided services to ISAF, in Khost city.

More tidbits from the report....

Simultaneous attacks by AGEs (Anti Government Elements) using IEDs and suicide attacks have become increasingly sophisticated over the six month period. This tactic, whereby a number of vehicle and bodyborne attackers are used to target multiple government locations, with the intention of incurring the largest amount of casualties, often civilians who work in these locations is an increasingly common tactic. The coordinated attack against the MoJ Central Prison Directorate (CPD) headquarters, the Ministry of Education, and the National Directorate of Security in Kabul on 11 February 2009, led to at least 21 civilians killed. In that incident UNAMA received reports that several of the civilian Government employees were deliberately singled out for attack and shot, despite clearly being non-combatants.

Multiple attacks on Government buildings in Kandahar
On 1 April 2009, there was a multiple attack on the Provincial Council building in Kandahar City. A car bomb was set off at the compound’s gate to facilitate the entry of six armed men bearing AK-47s and wearing suicide vests. Two of these men were killed by the car bomb, but the remaining four attackers entered the building.  Ultimately, two of the attackers detonated their vests, while two were shot and killed before they were able to do so. Apart from the seven attackers, those killed in the attack included three government officials, four Provincial Council employees, and seven ANP guards. In addition, at least 17 civilians were injured, including 7 Provincial Council members. At the time of the attack, the building was being used for a training program.

IEDs have been placed in crowded residential and commercial areas such as market places, music shops, or shops that are seen to be selling goods deemed to be ‘immoral’, such as DVDs.  On 12 April 2009, an IED placed in a wheelbarrow transported by a young boy prematurely detonated 15 metres from the Governor’s office in Aybak city, in Samangan, killing the boy and injuring a female bystander.  Subsequent investigations indicated that the IED had been planted without the knowledge of the boy.

AGEs frequently utilize IEDs and suicide attacks to target civilians working for the international military forces, construction companies either employed by PRTs or the provincial government, as well as convoys of international military forces’ goods carried by private contractors …. The sustained and widespread use of IEDs contributes to a climate of fear and intimidation that has significant repercussions for Afghan civilians, including in particular in terms of loss of life and livelihoods. IEDs are planted indiscriminately, and coupled with the use of suicide attacks, civilians who support or work for the government or PGF (Pro Government Forces) are targeted. UNAMA Human Rights has documented numerous incidents of IEDs placed outside the residential homes of ANP officers, civil servants and others who work for, or support the GoA, and the international community ….

Some of this is in line with the Talibs' 29 Apr 09 call for such attacks on announcing their so-called "Operation Victory" (links to Army.ca forum, not jihad web site).

 

[The Bread Guy]

...this time, from The Scotsman newspaper online:

EXPERT bomb-makers in Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province, are pioneering new types of "invisible" devices, made with carbon rods and glass, instead of metal pressure plates and nails.  Britain's most senior bomb-disposal officer in Afghanistan has warned that insurgents have started manufacturing "low-metal" devices and placing them more "cleverly" this summer.

(....)

"They are very skilful," said Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Duncan, Chief of Staff of Nato's counter-IED branch.  "Where before they were going for single targets, now they are putting them out in multiples and they are being clever. They will put out 'obvious' IEDs and then lots of less obvious secondary devices close by, to catch the first responders."

(....)

Most of the IEDs in Helmand are "victim-operated" pressure plates, traditionally made from two saw blades wired to a battery and a main charge. Pressure on the saw blades forcing them to touch connects an electrical circuit and detonates the explosives.  Previously, insurgents put nails, nuts and bolts on top of the explosives to increase the shrapnel. The buried metal made the bombs easier for soldiers to find and defuse.  Now they are using tiny carbon rods which are found inside AA batteries as contacts, instead of the saw blades, and glass instead of nails to create shrapnel. Some of the devices are triggered by trip-wires.

(....)

Most of the bombs are made in small factories across Helmand. The military say they are focused on disrupting the IED networks further up the chain. "Killing bomb emplacers is not going to solve the problem," Lt-Col Duncan added. "You can find the guy on the street and arrest him, but that's the tip of the iceberg. The financiers and the facilitators are the people you need to get. It's Special Branch-type operations, but in green uniform rather than blue."  The easy availability of batteries and other electrical components means efforts to stem the insurgents' supply lines have been largely futile. Afghanistan is awash with leftover mines and unexploded ordnance from more than three decades of fighting. Insurgents often wire their IEDs to old Soviet explosives, or manufacture home-made explosives from fertiliser.

 

[Doom]

Ahhh geeze, they're getting smarter. I'm sure we'll have something to pick these up sooner, rather than later. I mean how undetectable could these things be? are they running at our level of top engineering yet? maybe... who knows only time will tell. I really hope these don't get used to often, so many lives would than be at risk.

 

[VIChris]

Ahhh geeze, they're getting smarter. I'm sure we'll have something to pick these up sooner, rather than later. I mean how undetectable could these things be? are they running at our level of top engineering yet? maybe... who knows only time will tell. I really hope these don't get used to often, so many lives would than be at risk.

While I'm confident there are a bunch of science types working feverishly towards a method of finding the new crop of IEDs, I wouldn't hold my breath in anticipation of knowing how they do it. That kind of technology is likely to be locked down, to prevent the baddies from knowing how their means are being countered.

 

[Greymatters]

Many successful models made in the past by Russia (dating back to WW2) use plastic and wood to reduce metal detection.

Can someone with EOD knowledge clarify if the report is using the right terminology?  I thought a 'magnetic IED' was one where the detonation is activated by magnetic attraction to another object (i.e. like maritime mines that are attracted to metal ship hulls).  This article refers to a method of attachment, not detonation.  Is it still technically a 'magnetic IED'? 

 

[basrah]

A huge fear of mine has been that with the situation in Iraq slightly stabilizing, and the US beginning its pull out, we are going to start seeing more stuff life this as foreign fighters look for a new battleground in Afghanistan.

I worked in Iraq for 14 months from 2005 - 2006 and can say that EFP's are very, very scary things. I just hope they dont make it to Afghanistan.

 

[Jammer]

Mods:
As this is a thread that could accidentally let slip some OPSEC violations or let slip TTPs. I would recommend that this topic be locked.

Jammer

 

[the 48th regulator]

Mods:
As this is a thread that could accidentally let slip some OPSEC violations or let slip TTPs. I would recommend that this topic be locked.

Jammer

As some of the posts are publicly obtained links, what posts are OPSEC violations or let slip TTPs.

I will remove them immediately.

dileas

tess

milnet.ca staff

 

[Yrys]

As some of the posts are publicly obtained links, what posts are OPSEC violations or let slip TTPs.

I was wondering the same thing
( + What is TTP's, but I found Tactics, Techniques and Procedures in the Military database )

 

[392]

Many successful models made in the past by Russia (dating back to WW2) use plastic and wood to reduce metal detection.

Can someone with EOD knowledge clarify if the report is using the right terminology?  I thought a 'magnetic IED' was one where the detonation is activated by magnetic attraction to another object (i.e. like maritime mines that are attracted to metal ship hulls).  This article refers to a method of attachment, not detonation.  Is it still technically a 'magnetic IED'?

I think you're thinking "magnetic impulse", which indeed is a form of "switch" to set off explosive devices (most commonly used in mines at this time). Whether or not the use of the term "magnetic" for the method of attachment is proper in this case, I have no idea, although when I first read the title I thought the same thing.

Ref the low metal content pressure plates, these have been seen in increasing frequency in our AOR, so they already exist, and our guys are removing them with great success. To be honest, they're no more dangerous than PMNs being used to initate IEDs, although with an electrical pressure plate, there is no chance of secondary blast & frag from the switch itself (like what would be encountered with an A/P mine being used as a non-electric switch) unless it is co-located with the main charge .

This is about as in depth as I'll go on the topic, as any farther would be sliding into OPSEC stuff.....