Taliban use modern anti-detective IEDs

February 7, 2010 - 0:0

According to icasualties.org, in the past two months, more than half of the battlefield deaths suffered by U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan were caused by IEDs.

The Taliban in Afghanistan have built a new generation of improvised explosive devices which is not detectable, a Taliban statement has said.
The new IEDs, called “Omar”, have been made by the Taliban technical experts inside Afghanistan and cost only $85 each, the statement, released on Friday, said.
According to the Taliban statement the new IEDs are not detectable by special mine-detector machines used by foreign forces based in the country.
Taliban said they have made the new remote-controlled IEDs after the US and NATO forces entered into Afghanistan special modern devices that are able to detect and neutralize ordinary IEDs made by the Taliban.
The Taliban say the new-generation IEDs have proved to be effective.
The report comes as the United States promised on Friday to provide armored vehicles, ground penetrating radar and other equipment to NATO allies to help protect their troops in Afghanistan from increasingly deadly roadside bombs.
“Today I told our allies that the United States will be able to offer them more intelligence, training and equipment including jammers, route clearance robots, surveillance systems and ground-penetrating radar,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a news conference after a gathering of NATO countries in Istanbul.
IEDs are the main killers of foreign soldiers in Afghanistan. More than 500 U.S.-led troops have been killed in the war-torn country in 2009, including more than 310 Americans.
Another report released on February 2, 2010 suggests that for British soldiers serving in Afghanistan expensive hi-tech weapons are not the problem, but it is the Taliban's IEDs that are costing British lives.
The IEDs have become the deadliest of enemies to British troops in Afghanistan. Last summer British forces were dealing with a thousand incidents a month.
“Although the Taliban still fights with small-arms, rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices, they have increasingly focused the role of IEDs as antipersonnel devices,” the report said.
(Source: Press TV)
-