Afghanistan Conflict Monitor

In Afghanistan, Bomb Attacks Hit High in July

In Afghanistan, Bomb Attacks Hit High in July, USA Today, 19 August 2010

EXCERPT: "Makeshift-bomb attacks in July wounded a record number of U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan, and experts say even more would have died without widespread use of armored vehicles. More than 1,300 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated or defused in July — a new record, said the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). That's a 42% increase over July 2009. In July 2010, IEDs wounded 399 servicemembers — a 68% increase — and killed 53. More troops are surviving blasts in part because of the substantial increase in the number of armored trucks designed to help troops survive bomb blasts, said John Pike, a military analyst at Globalsecurity.org. In July, there were about 9,400 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon. There were fewer than 3,000 a year ago. 'Certainly a factor in survival has been the use of new vehicles there,' Pike said. 'There are a lot more MRAPs.'"

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Afghan police seize bomb chemical, UPI, 19 August 2010
Car bomb kills four, including police district chief, in southern Afghanistan, Channel 6 News, 18 August 2010
UK troops find Taliban "bomb factory" in Helmand, BBC News, 31 July 2010

Related posts:
IEDs kill more civilian Afghans in 2010, 5 August 2010
US to deliver billions in equipment to tackle IEDs, 9 July 2010
IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, 8 April 2010
US, NATO deaths from bombings spike sixfold, 11 August 2009

IEDs Kill More Civilian Afghans in 2010

IEDs Kill More Civilian Afghans in 2010, USA Today, 5 August 2010

EXCERPT: "Bombs planted by insurgents have killed 75% more Afghan civilians this year than in 2009 as the Taliban increasingly targets villagers in a campaign of intimidation, according to military reports provided to USA TODAY. There have been 1,859 civilian deaths from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) this year across Afghanistan. That compares with 1,057 in the same period last year. In the Taliban stronghold of southern Afghanistan, where thousands of U.S. forces have been brought in to protect Afghans, civilian deaths from roadside bombs have soared 132% since last year, the reports show. Makeshift bombs are the top killer of the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan civilians. Insurgents most often rely on cheap materials — fertilizer and fuel oil — to fashion explosives."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
U.S. PR offensive highlights insurgent attacks on Afghan civilians, McClatchy Newspapers, 5 August 2010
IED strike kills four, wounds three civilians in north Afghanistan, Channel 6 News, 5 August 2010
British army enlists reality-TV star to help soldiers spot IEDs in Afghanistan, The Globe and Mail, 4 August 2010
Roadside bombs raise U.S. stakes in Afghanistan, NPR, 2 August 2010
Deaths in Afghan war rise with Taliban drive, USA Today, 2 August 2010

Related posts:
July is deadliest month for US troops, 30 July 2010
Afghanistan bus blast "kills 25", 28 July 2010
IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, 8 April 2010
Taliban IEDs take toll on civilians, 23 March 2010
Taliban relying more on homemade bombs, 10 June 2009

July is Deadliest Month for US Troops

July is Deadliest Month for US Troops in Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal, 30 July 2010

EXCERPT: "Homemade militant bombs killed three U.S. soldiers in southern Afghanistan, making July the deadliest month ever for U.S. troops since the Afghan war began, according to Icasualties.org. The three soldiers died in two separate blasts in southern Afghanistan Thursday, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Kabul. Sixty-three Americans have been killed in July so far. Improvised explosive devices—homemade bombs crafted by insurgents—are the deadliest tool against NATO troops, causing 58% of coalition deaths so far this year. June was the deadliest month for soldiers from all coalition countries in the nearly nine-year war, with 102 fatalities compared with a total of 86 coalition deaths in July so far, Icasualties.org said. Many of the IEDs are planted along roads used by NATO vehicles, mostly in the southern and eastern parts of the country, where the majority of U.S. troops are being deployed as part of a surge announced by President Barack Obama in December."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
3 more U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan; record toll for July at 66, The Washington Post, 30 July 2010
Body of 2nd missing U.S. sailor discovered in Afghanistan, The Dallas Morning News, 30 July 2010
High-tech vehicles finding IEDs, saving lives in Afghanistan, Toronto Star, 30 July 2010
US military deaths in Afghan region at 1,122, The Associated Press, 29 July 2010

Related posts:
House OKs $33B for troop surge in Afghanistan, 28 July 2010
Taliban attacks kill 12 NATO troops in 2 days, 14 July 2010
US to deliver billions in equipment to tackle IEDs, 9 July 2010
IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, 8 April 2010

Afghanistan Bus Blast "Kills 25"

Afghanistan Bus Blast "Kills 25", BBC News, 28 July 2010

EXCERPT: "At least 25 people have been killed and 20 wounded in Afghanistan when the bus they were travelling on hit a roadside bomb, officials say. The bus was travelling on a highway in Nimroz province, the provincial governor told news agencies. The blast went off shortly after Nato forces patrolled the area, the governor said. Nato and US-led forces are in their ninth year fighting the Taliban, with most of the combat in the south. A senior Afghan interior ministry official told the BBC that the bus was on the way from Nimroz to the capital, Kabul, when it hit an improvised explosive device. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP that it was not responsible for the bombing."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Insurgents kill 2 civilians, wound 15 in IED strikes, ReliefWeb / NATO, 28 July 2010
2 Italian soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan, The Canadian Press, 28 July 2010
Explosives experts in bloody dance with bomb makers, Reuters, 25 July 2010
General sees IED drop by year's end, USA Today, 12 July 2010

Related posts:
IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, 8 April 2010
Taliban IEDs take toll on civilians, 23 March 2010
Afghan roads "now more dangerous than under Taliban", 4 December 2009
Taliban sowing fear along Afghanistan's highways, 29 September 2009

US to Deliver Billions in Equipment to Tackle IEDs

US to Deliver Billions in Equipment to Tackle Afghan Bombs, AFP, 9 July 2010

EXCERPT: "The United States is set to deliver three billion dollars worth of equipment to Afghanistan aimed at countering Taliban-made crude bombs used in the war, a US official said Thursday. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, have become the main weapon used against international and Afghan forces fighting to end an insurgency increasingly seen as bogged down in favour of the Taliban. The equipment was 'at least doubling' current counter-IED capacity as forces did not have all they needed to take on an escalating threat, said Ashton Carter, US undersecretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics. The new equipment, including tethered surveillance blimps, heavily armoured vehicles and detection machinery such as robots and mine detectors, would arrive in Afghanistan in the coming months, he told reporters. Carter said the equipment would be accompanied by about 1,000 counter-IED experts, including laboratory technicians, intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Taliban bomb kills US-led soldier, PressTV, 9 July 2010
Military restricts use of vehicles vulnerable to IEDs, USA Today, 30 June 2010
The real-life "Hurt Locker": Battling IEDs in Afghanistan, TIME, 15 June 2010

Related posts:
11 NATO soldiers killed in 6 days, 6 July 2010
June deadliest month for troops since Afghan war began, 24 June 2010
IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, 8 April 2010
Taliban IEDs take toll on civilians, 23 March 2010

11 NATO Soldiers Killed in 6 Days

Tough July for NATO in Afghanistan as 11 Soldiers Killed in 6 Days, China View, 6 July 2010

EXCERPT: "The month of July seems to be tough for the NATO-led troops in the war-torn Afghanistan as 11 soldiers with the military alliance have been killed since the beginning this month. Six service members with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers, according to ISAF press releases lost their lives in separate Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks elsewhere in the country on a single day on Monday, bringing to 11 the number of ISAF casualties so far this month. The latest casualties reported by the ISAF were losing of two soldiers in the restive southern region, the stronghold of the Taliban militants. Surge in troop casualties is reported just days after the change of command as new U.S. commander of over 130,000 strong NATO-led forces in Afghanistan Gen. David H. Petraeus vowed Sunday to win the war against Taliban militants and associated the al- Qaida insurgents."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
2010 Foreign troop toll in Afghanistan hits 335: AFP tally, AFP, 6 July 2010
NATO needs to brace for spike in casualties-Britain, Reuters, 30 June 2010
NATO says increased military ops behind high death toll, AFP, 27 June 2010
British death toll in Afghanistan reaches 300, The Associated Press, 21 June 2010

Related resources:
Video: Taliban's "welcome message" to new US commander in Afghanistan, Al Jazeera / YouTube, 2 July 2010
Giulio Brigante Colonna, Exit strategy vs. end state in Afghanistan, Aspen Institute Italia, 15 June 2010

Related posts:
NATO's June death toll in Afghanistan nears 100, 28 June 2010
June deadliest month for troops since Afghan war began, 24 June 2010
NATO suffers deadliest day this year in Afghanistan, 8 June 2010
Taliban vow guerrilla warfare against NATO, 11 February 2010
2009 deadliest year for NATO troops, 25 August 2009

Killed Bomb Disposal Expert Wore Standard Armour

Killed Bomb Disposal Expert Wore Standard Armour, BBC News, 27 May 2010

EXCERPT: "A bomb disposal expert was wearing standard body armour as he tried to defuse a roadside device, an inquest has heard. Capt Daniel Shepherd, 28, from Lincoln, was awarded the George Medal after he was killed in a bomb blast on 20 July 2009. He was working in Afghanistan's Helmand province when he died. The soldier was not wearing full body armour because it was too hot, the inquest in Lincoln was told. Once he found the bomb he lay down on his stomach as he attempted to dismantle it by hand. It then it exploded, killing the soldier. The inquest was told that the temperature on the day he died was between 45C and 50C and this would have made it impossible for Capt Shepherd to wear a full protective suit and operate freely."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Bomb-jamming equipment "can fail in heat of Afghanistan", inquest hears, Metro, 27 May 2010
Don’t cut your defence budget too deeply, Nato chief warns Britain, Times Online, 27 May 2010
UK appoints new minister to consider arms needs, Reuters, 26 May 2010

Related posts:
MoD planning for surge in casualties "falls short", 29 March 2010
Lightly armoured vehicle "played part in death of woman soldier", 1 March 2010
Britain cannot increase forces amid equipment fears, 1 October 2009
British commanders demand more troops, 21 September 2009

German Army Opens IED Research Center for Soldiers

German Army Opens IED Research Center for Soldiers, Deutsche Welle, 29 April 2010

EXCERPT: "A new center was opened at the Boeselager German army base in the town of Grafschaft in western Germany on Wednesday, designed to help protect soldiers from home-made bombs planted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. As German troops are increasingly fighting Afghan insurgents in rural areas, army leaders believe that better technical information on improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and that new anti-IED strategies can save lives. According to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, the number of Taliban attacks using IEDs has risen sharply in recent years - from about 2,600 in 2007 to more than 8,000 in 2009. Last year alone 322 soldiers died and more than 1,800 were wounded in IED attacks. Lieutenant Colonel Helmut Beck of the German army says that this number is likely to rise even further. 'We've observed a clear trend in which the Taliban are increasingly using homemade explosives rather than conventional devices such as mines,' he told Deutsche Welle."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Roadside bomb kills 12 Afghans in minibus, Los Angeles Times, 29 April 2010
Afghan Taliban cell leader and several members captured after placing nine IEDs in children’s school, Thaindian News, 29 April 2010
Press release: ISAF bomb disposal team clears Afghan highway, NATO / ReliefWeb, 29 April 2010
EU lab to combat roadside bombs in Afghanistan, EUObserver, 26 April 2010
More minesweepers ordered for Afghanistan, UPI, 19 April 2010

Related posts:
IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year, 8 April 2010
Taliban IEDs take toll on civilians, 23 March 2010
Taliban making deadlier, high-tech IEDs, 16 September 2009
US, NATO deaths from bombings spike sixfold, 11 August 2009
Taliban relying more on homemade bombs, 10 June 2009

Australian SAS Nabs Taliban Commander

 Australian SAS Stealth Nabs Taliban Commander in Afghanistan, Herald Sun, 21 April 2010

EXCERPT: "Australian special forces troops from the Perth-based SAS Regiment and the Sydney-based Commando Regiment, along with Afghan police, netted Mullah Faqir and three other fighters north of Tarin Kowt. His capture on April 12 came just a few weeks after three other bomb makers including senior Taliban commander Mullah Janan Andewahl were caught by Australian forces. The Taliban strongman and his followers were handed over to Dutch authorities at Tarin Kowt where they were held in a high security prison at Camp Russell before being transferred to local authorities for processing. A Defence statement said Mullah Faqir was the mastermind behind bomb attacks in the Mirabad Valley during March that wounded four Diggers and three Afghans."

Read the full story.

Related article:
Australians help capture Taliban leader, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 April 2010
Australia says three soldiers hurt in bombings in Afghanistan, Business Week, 28 March 2010

Related posts:
Roadside bombs taking bigger toll, 15 February 2010
Taliban making deadlier, high-tech IEDs, 16 September 2009
Australia to review Afghan force, 21 October 2009
Australian special forces kill Taliban commander, 12 January 2009

IEDs in Afghanistan Double in Past Year

IEDs in Afghanistan Double in Past Year, The Associated Press, 8 April 2010

EXCERPT: "The number of crude roadside bombs in Afghanistan has doubled in the past year, prompting U.S. officials to rush billions of dollars of new protective gear to troops and double the number of road-clearing teams. The campaign against the deadly devices, described Thursday by senior officials, follows Pentagon warnings of an increase in casualties in the months to come. President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of more than 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, and already, more U.S. deaths have accompanied the rise in forces. Twice as many troops died in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year. The majority of all American deaths and injuries in Afghanistan are believed to have been a result of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Military officials say they are hoping that the war in Afghanistan will follow the pattern seen in Iraq: As troop levels rise, security improves and the population turns against insurgent forces. Eventually, the number of IED incidents drops off."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US hosts counter-IED conference in Hohenfels, Stars and Stripes, 8 April 2010
What lies beneath: Army's bomb-disposal teams in training, The Independent, 8 April 2010
UK troops in Afghanistan losing more limbs, BBC News, 8 April 2010
DoD tries to counter IED surge, Politico, 8 April 2010
Pentagon boosting Afghanistan "eyes in the sky", Reuters, 2 April 2010

Related posts:
Taliban IEDs take toll on civilians, 23 March 2010
Iran trains Taliban on ambushes, IEDs, 22 March 2010
Soaring IED attacks stymie US counteroffensive, 18 March 2010
Roadside bombs taking bigger toll, 15 February 2010
GAO report on counter-IED efforts, 2 November 2009