Improvised Explosive Devices

An improvised explosive device (IED) is the conventional name for explosive devices more often used in unconventional warfare by terrorist groups. By definition it is a “homemade” device designed to cause death, injury or terror, by using explosives alone or combined with fragmentation material, toxic chemicals or even radiological materials.

IEDs can and do vary in shape and form but typically consist of

• An explosive charge
• A detonator
• A container

The explosive charge can be a standard military explosive, a homemade explosive made from materials which, surprisingly, can be bought from your local supermarket or DIY store. The charge is more often than not a combination of the two.

The detonator ranges from the simple “light the blue touch-paper”, through booby trapped trip wires to complex electronic initiators.

The container can be anything form a soft drinks tin, through boxes, old shoes up to large trucks in the case of vehicle borne IEDs (VBIEDs)

As mentioned above many IEDs contain things like ball bearings, nails or similar material designed to cause maximum injury when they explode. Others can contain chemicals designed to burn on release or spread toxic fumes when exploded. As well as causing serious injuries these IEDs are designed to cause terror in the target population whether it be civilian or military.

Many IEDs are manufactured by inexperienced designers, or with sub-standard materials. These can be as dangerous to the designer and user of the device as to the potential target, often not exploding or going off prematurely. Unfortunately, however, many devices are of a very sophisticated nature, using materials, sometimes scavenged, from military origin and with high tech arming and detonating devices. These arming devices can use the signal from a mobile phone or even an automatic garage door opener to detonate the IED.

The most insidious and often the most difficult IED to detect is a suicide bomb. The intention of the suicide bomber is not to commit suicide but to cause destruction and terror. Explosive and fragmentation material can be strapped to a “bomber” who can then walk in amongst a large group of people on the way to a specified target. If detected before reaching the target the bomber can still detonate the device and cause serious innocent casualties and lead to a heightening of terror in the civilian population. Suicide bombers can also drive to the target carrying a potentially greater and varied payload.

VBIEDs pose a real problem to anti-terrorist organisations. A car, perhaps stolen, can have an explosive device attached, sometimes with a remote control detonator, more often with a simple timer. This can explode at a busy time of day, or by remote control as a specific target is in the vicinity, or even be set to detonate when a stolen vehicle is towed away.

Trucks can be used to hold large amounts of explosive or fragmentation material, sometimes scavenged military hardware, driven to a location and left. This can be triggered when investigated by authorities, by-passed by a military column, or even set to destroy a larger target close to the vehicle.

The only thing, apart from technical ability, that limits the range of IEDs is the imagination of the designer. Booby traps have been in use even before explosives were invented, but with the dawn of even simple explosives they have become dangerous in the extreme. Activation of booby traps is usually done by an unsuspecting person committing a normally harmless act.

A discarded fast food carton may, when picked up to be thrown in dustbin, activate, either by direct connection or electronic signal, several explosive devices in the vicinity causing damage to multiple targets. Vehicles or soldiers moving in column may accidentally hit a trip wire or trigger device causing other devices further back the column to explode causing maximum casualties.