Lahore, Sep. 16 (ANI): In order to inflict maximum casualties on NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, The Taliban has been making high-tech and deadlier bombs, which are hard-to-detect due to their nonmetal components, according to a confidential intelligence report.
According to Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organisation report, Taliban's switch to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) instead of larger anti-armour bombs has enabled the terrorist outfit to produce more bombs and target more US troops.
The Taliban is now using plastic instead of using metal-dominated explosives, and ground troops are finding it hard to detect the buried IEDs with portable mine-detectors, The Daily Times quoted a report in the Washington Times, as saying.
"There is an urgent need to identify new man-portable detection platforms to expand the ability of US troops to detect anti-personnel IED-mines," the report concludes.
US soldiers in the area around Now Zad, northwest of Kandahar face a constant threat from hidden IEDs, the report reveales.
"Smaller, lighter, more quickly constructed and quite often triggered by a victim-operated switch [booby trap], these IEDs have been a significant factor in labelling Now Zad the most dangerous location with the highest US casualty rate in either the Afghan or Iraq theatres," the paper said.
A military source said the Taliban were shifting to small IEDs for a number of reasons.
"The Taliban is also thwarting detection by using long pull-cords rather than an electronic signal to ignite IEDs. This way, the bomb cannot be defeated by electronic countermeasures on vehicles and aircraft that jam the signal," he said. (ANI)
According to Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organisation report, Taliban's switch to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) instead of larger anti-armour bombs has enabled the terrorist outfit to produce more bombs and target more US troops.
The Taliban is now using plastic instead of using metal-dominated explosives, and ground troops are finding it hard to detect the buried IEDs with portable mine-detectors, The Daily Times quoted a report in the Washington Times, as saying.
"There is an urgent need to identify new man-portable detection platforms to expand the ability of US troops to detect anti-personnel IED-mines," the report concludes.
US soldiers in the area around Now Zad, northwest of Kandahar face a constant threat from hidden IEDs, the report reveales.
"Smaller, lighter, more quickly constructed and quite often triggered by a victim-operated switch [booby trap], these IEDs have been a significant factor in labelling Now Zad the most dangerous location with the highest US casualty rate in either the Afghan or Iraq theatres," the paper said.
A military source said the Taliban were shifting to small IEDs for a number of reasons.
"The Taliban is also thwarting detection by using long pull-cords rather than an electronic signal to ignite IEDs. This way, the bomb cannot be defeated by electronic countermeasures on vehicles and aircraft that jam the signal," he said. (ANI)
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