Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Afghan Taliban Are Starting To Use Bigger Bombs

U.S. military vehicles in Kuwait being returned to the U.S. (Army photograph)

Army’s Vehicles Not Tough Enough For Bombs -- Washington Times

The July 8 roadside explosion that killed six Army soldiers in Afghanistan has analysts worried that the Taliban are turning to bigger homemade bombs to take down the best armored U.S. vehicles.

What is particularly troubling to the military is that the enemy was able to penetrate the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, whose V-shaped hull disperses a blast away from the troops inside.

A military source said in an interview that the July 8 bomb likely was a huge fertilizer-based homemade device hidden in a culvert close to where the vehicle passed. An enemy tactic is to place a bomb underneath or alongside a road and detonate it with a remote electronic signal, such as from a cellphone.

The command in Kabul is generally tight-lipped about how the Taliban, al Qaeda and other insurgents use homemade bombs.

Read more
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My Comment:
Casualty rates in Afghanistan from IEDs has decreased this year .... a trend that the Taliban have probably noticed and are now acting to reverse.

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