Improvised explosive device

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An improvised explosive device (IED) is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery round, attached to a detonating mechanism. Roadside bombs are a common use of IEDs.

IEDs may be used in terrorist actions or in unconventional warfare by guerrillas or commando forces in a theater of operations. In the second Iraq War, IEDs were used extensively against US-led Coalition forces and by the end of 2007 they had become responsible for approximately 63% of Coalition deaths in Iraq.[1] They are also used in Afghanistan by insurgent groups, and have caused over 66% of the Coalition casualties in the 2001–present Afghanistan War.[2]




The term Improvised Explosive Device comes from the British Army in the 1970s, after the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) used bombs made from agricultural fertilizer and semtex smuggled from Libya to make highly effective boobytrap devices or remote-controlled bombs. An IED is a bomb fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy or incapacitate personnel or vehicles. In some cases, IEDs are used to distract, disrupt, or delay an opposing force, facilitating another type of attack.[5] IEDs may incorporate military or commercially sourced explosives, and often combine both types, or they may otherwise be made with homemade explosives (HME).

An IED has five components: a switch (activator), an initiator (fuse), container (body), charge (explosive), and a power source (battery). An IED designed for use against armoured targets such as personnel carriers or tanks will be designed for armour penetration, by using either a shaped charge or an explosively formed penetrator. IEDs are extremely diverse in design, and may contain many types of initiators, detonators, penetrators, and explosive loads. Antipersonnel IEDs typically also contain fragmentation-generating objects such as nails, ball bearings or even small rocks to cause wounds at greater distances than blast-pressure alone could. IEDs are triggered by various methods, including remote control, infra-red or magnetic triggers, pressure-sensitive bars or trip wires (victim-operated). In some cases, multiple IEDs are wired together in a daisy-chain, to attack a convoy of vehicles spread out along a roadway.

IEDs made by inexperienced designers or with substandard materials may fail to detonate, and in some cases actually detonate on either the maker or the emplacer of the device (these unintended early detonations are known as pre-detonations, "own goals," or "self-resolving bomb-tech removal" if the placer is killed in the detonation). Some groups, however, have been known to produce sophisticated devices that are constructed with components scavenged from conventional munitions and standard consumer electronics components, such as mobile phones, washing machine timers, pagers, or garage door openers. The sophistication of an IED depends on the training of the designer and the tools and materials available.


A vehicle borne IED, or VBIED, is a military term for a car bomb or truck bomb but can be any type of transportation such as a bicycle, motorcycle, donkey, etc. These are typically employed by insurgents, and can carry a relatively large payload. They can also be detonated from a remote location. VBIEDs can create additional shrapnel through the destruction of the vehicle itself, as well as using vehicle fuel as an incendiary weapon. The act of a person's being in this vehicle and detonating it is known as an SVBIED suicide.

Of increasing popularity among insurgent forces in Iraq is the HBIED or House Borne IED, coming out of the common military practice of clearing houses, insurgents will rig an entire house to detonate and collapse shortly after a clearing squad has entered.


Ernst Jünger mentions in his war memoir the systematic use of IEDs and booby traps to cover the retreat of German troops at the Somme region during the First World War. Another early example of coordinated large-scale use of IEDs was the Belarussian Rail War launched by Belarussian guerrillas against the Germans during World War II.[6][7] Both command-detonated and delayed-fuse IEDs were used to derail thousands of German trains during 1943–1944.[8]


IEDs were used during the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong against land- and river-borne vehicles as well as personnel.[9] They were commonly constructed using materials from unexploded American ordnance.[10] Thirty-three percent of U.S. casualties in Vietnam and twenty-eight percent of deaths were officially attributed to mines; these figures include losses caused by both IEDs and commercially manufactured mines.[11]




Northern Ireland[edit]








Marines beside a mud wall as an explosion goes off behind it




A brigade commander said that sniffer dogs are the most reliable way of detecting IEDs.[13] However, statistical evidence gathered by the US Army Maneuver Support Center at Fort Leonard Wood, MO shows that the dogs are not the most effective means of detecting IEDs.[citation needed]

In July 2012 it was reported that "sticky bombs", magnetically adhesive IED's that were prevalent in the Iraq War, showed up in Afghanistan.[14][15]


Hezbollah made extensive use of IEDs to attack Israeli forces after Israel's Operation Peace for Galilee campaign. Israel withdrew from most of Lebanon in 1985 but still kept troops stationed in a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah frequently used IEDs to attack Israeli vehicles in this area up until the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000.

One such bomb killed Israeli Brigadier General Erez Gerstein[16] on February 28, 1999, the highest-ranking Israeli to die in Lebanon since Yekutiel Adam's death in 1982.

Also in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, a Merkava Mark II tank was hit by a pre-positioned Hezbollah IED, killing all 4 IDF servicemen on board,[17] the first of two IEDs to damage a Merkava tank.




Controlled explosion of IED, US Army in Iraq


Beginning in July 2003, the Iraqi insurgency used IEDs to target Coalition vehicles. According to the Washington Post, 64% of U.S deaths in Iraq occurred due to IEDs.[18] A French study[19] showed that in Iraq, from March 2003 to November 2006, on a global 3,070 deaths in the US-led Coalition soldiers, 1,257 were caused by IEDs, i.e. 41%. That is to say more than in the "normal fights" (1027 dead, 34%). Insurgents now use the bombs to target not only Coalition vehicles but Iraqi police as well.



Despite the increased armor, IEDs have been killing military personnel and civilians with greater frequency. May 2007 was the deadliest month for IED attacks thus far, with a reported 89 of the 129 Coalition casualties coming from an IED attack.[1] According to the Pentagon, 250,000 tons (of 650,000 tons total) of Iraqi ordnance were looted, providing a large supply of ammunition for the insurgents.

In October 2005, the UK government charged that Iran was supplying insurgents with the technological know-how to make shaped charge IEDs.[20] Both Iranian and Iraqi government officials denied the allegations.[21][22]

United States[edit]





IEDs are increasingly being used by Maoists in India.[23]



On 17 April 2013, Two kilos of explosives used in Bangalore bomb blast at Malleshwaram area, leaving 16 injured and no casualties. Intelligence sources have said the bomb was an Improvised Explosive Device or IED.[27]




Home-made IEDs are used extensively during the Post-civil war violence in Libya, mostly in the city of Benghazi against police stations, cars or foreign embassies.[28][29][30]


During the Syrian Civil War, militant insurgents were using IEDs to attack buses, trucks and tanks.[31][32] Additionally, the Syrian Air Force has used barrel bombs to attack cities and other largely civilian targets. Such barrel bombs consist of barrels filled with high explosives, oil, and shrapnel, and are dropped from helicopters.[33][34]


By warhead[edit]












Explosively Formed Penetrator/Projectiles (EFPs)[edit]



Directionally Focused Charges[edit]

Directionally Focused Charges (aka Directionally Focused Fragmentary Charges) are very similar to the EFP with the main difference being that the top plate is usually flat and not concave. It also is not made with machined copper but much cheaper cast or cut metal. The contents of the canister are usually nuts, bolts, ball bearings and other similar shrapnel products and explosive.

By delivery mechanism[edit]







Monkeys and war pigs were used as incendiaries around 1000 AD. More famously the "anti-tank dog" and "bat bomb" were developed during World War II. In recent times, a two-year-old child and seven other people were killed by explosives strapped to a horse in the town of Chita in Colombia[39] The carcasses of certain animals were also used to conceal explosive devices by the Iraqi insurgency.[40]


IEDs strapped to the necks of farmers have been used on at least three occasions by guerrillas in Colombia, as a way of extortion.[41][42] American pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells was killed in 2003 by an explosive fastened to his neck, purportedly under duress from the maker of the bomb.[43] In 2011 a schoolgirl in Sydney, Australia had a suspected collar bomb attached to her by an attacker in her home. The device was removed by police after a ten-hour operation and proved to be a hoax.[44]


Suicide bombing usually refers to an individual wearing explosives and detonating them in order to kill others including themselves, a technique pioneered by LTTE (Tamil Tigers).[45] The bomber will conceal explosives on and around their person, commonly using a vest (or possibly a prosthetic[46]) and will use a timer or some other trigger to detonate the explosives. The logic behind such attacks is the belief that an IED delivered by a human has a greater chance of achieving success than any other method of attack. In addition, there is the psychological impact of terrorists prepared to deliberately sacrifice themselves for their cause.[47]

Surgically implanted[edit]

In May 2012 American counter-terrorism officials leaked their acquisition of documents describing the preparation and use of surgically implanted improvised explosive devices.[48][49][50] The devices were designed to evade detection. The devices were described as containing no metal, so they could not be detected by xrays.

Security officials referred to bombs being surgically implanted into suicide bomber's "love handles".[48]

According to The Daily Mirror UK security officials at MI-6 asserted that female bombers could travel undetected carrying the explosive chemicals in otherwise standard breast implants.[51][52] The bomber would blow up the implanted explosives by injecting a chemical trigger.[50]


In 2008, rocket-propelled IEDs, dubbed Improvised Rocket Assisted Mortars (IRAM) by the military, came to be employed in numbers against U.S. forces in Iraq. They have been described as propane tanks packed with explosives and powered by 107 mm rockets.[53] They are similar to some Provisional IRA barrack buster mortars.

By trigger mechanism[edit]





Cell phone[edit]



Victim-operated improvised explosive devices (VOIED) are designed to function upon contact with a victim; also known as booby traps. VOIED switches are often well hidden from the victim or disguised as innocuous everyday objects. They are operated by means of movement. Switching methods include tripwire, pressure mats, spring-loaded release, push, pull or tilt. Common forms of VOIED include the under-vehicle IED (UVIED) and improvised landmines.[47]


The British accused Iran and Hezbollah of teaching Iraqi fighters to use infrared light beams to trigger IEDs. As the occupation forces became more sophisticated in interrupting radio signals around their convoys, the insurgents adapted their triggering methods.[54] In some cases, when a more advanced method was disrupted, the insurgents regressed to using uninterruptible means, such as hard wires from the IED to detonator; however, this method is much harder to effectively conceal. It later emerged however, that these so-called "advanced" IEDs were actually old IRA technology. The infrared beam method was perfected by the IRA in the early '90s after it acquired the technology from a botched undercover British Army operation. Many of the IEDs being used against Coalition forces in Iraq were originally developed by the British Army who unintentionally passed the information on to the IRA.[55] The IRA taught their techniques to the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the knowledge spread to Iraq.[56]

Counter-IED Efforts[edit]

Israeli IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer, which is used by the IDF Combat Engineering Corps for clearing heavy belly charges and booby-trapped buildings and other civilian buildings.


Detection and disarmament[edit]


Military forces and law enforcement personnel from around the world have developed a number of render safe procedures (RSP) to deal with IEDs. RSPs may be developed as a result of direct experience with devices or by applied research designed to counter the threat. The supposed effectiveness of IED jamming systems, including vehicle- and personally mounted systems, has caused IED technology to essentially regress to command-wire detonation methods.[57] These are physical connections between the detonator and explosive device and cannot be jammed. However, these types of IEDs are more difficult to emplace quickly, and are more readily detected.

Military forces from India, Canada, United Kingdom, Israel, Spain and the United States are at the forefront of counter-IED efforts, as all have direct experience in dealing with IEDs used against them in conflict or terrorist attacks. From the research and development side, programs such as the new Canadian Unmanned Systems Challenge, will bring students groups together to invent an unmanned device to both locate IEDs and pinpoint the insurgents.[58]

Technological countermeasures are only part of the solution in the effort to defeat IEDs; experience, training, and awareness remain key factors in combating them. For example, there are visual signs that may suggest the presence of an IED, such as recently turned-over soil or sand by a road, or an abandoned vehicle beside a road. Recognizing these telltale signs may be as valuable as having sophisticated detection equipment.

See also[edit]

Types of device


  1. ^ a b c iCasualties: OIF - Deaths by IED[dead link]
  7. ^ "Belarus during the Great Patriotic War". History. Welcome to Belarus. Retrieved 4 Dec 2008. 
  8. ^ Stockfish, David; Yariv Eldar, Daniella HarPaz Mechnikov (1970). Dokszyc-Parafianow Memorial Book — Belarus (Sefer Dokshitz-Parafianov). Tel Aviv: Association of Former Residents of Dokszyce-Parafianow in Israel. p. 274. 
  11. ^ "In Its Own Words". Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
  14. ^ "'Sticky bombs,' like those used in Iraq, now appearing in Afghanistan"
  15. ^ "'Sticky bombs' showing up in Afghanistan"
  16. ^ Eiran, Ehud (May 2007). The Essence of Longing: General Erez Gerstein and the War in Lebanon. Miskal — Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books. (Hebrew)
  17. ^ Arkin, William M. (Aug 2007). "Divine Victory for Whom? Airpower in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War" (PDF). Strategic Studies Quarterly (Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: United States Air ForceAir Education and Training Command Air University). Winter 2007: 9. Retrieved 3 Dec 2008. 
  19. ^ a b Jean-Pierre Steinhoffer : « Irak : les pertes de la Coalition par EEI », in le Casoar January 2007.
  26. ^
  29. ^ UK experts help Libya with IED detection Libya Herald, 1 October 2012
  32. ^ "Like Afghan Counterparts, Syrian Rebels Now Using IEDs"
  33. ^ [1] BBC, 5 February 2014
  34. ^ [2] BBC, 20 December 2013
  36. ^ "CBRNe World pages" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-10-18. [dead link]
  37. ^ [3][dead link]
  40. ^ Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) -Iraq
  45. ^ "IISS Armed Conflict Database". Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
  46. ^ "DHS Warns Of Pregnant Prosthetic Belly Bombings". 
  48. ^ a b Daniel Klaidman, Christopher Dickey (2012-05-14). "Ibrahim al-Asiri: The Body Bomb Menace". Daily Beast. Retrieved 2012-05-14. "Newsweek has learned that U.S. intelligence officials circulated a secret report that laid out in vivid detail how doctors working for al-Asiri had developed the surgical technique. An American government source familiar with the report described it as 15 to 20 pages, single spaced, and replete with schematics and pictures. “It was almost like something you’d see in Scientific American,” the source said."  mirror
  50. ^ a b Anissa Haddadi (2012-05-14). "Al-Qaida’s ‘Body Bombs’ increase Fears of Global Attacks by Master Bomb-Maker Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri". International Business Times. Retrieved 2012-05-14. "Experts and intelligence sources say the terrorists could use the powerful explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate, known as PETN and insert it in the bodies of would-be suicide bombers. According to reports they would then be able to detonate the implanted explosives via injections. The bombs would not be detectable to airport body scanner, increasing risks of attacks similar to the 2011 September attack on the Twin Towers in New York and on the Pentagon."  mirror
  51. ^ "Breast bombers: Doctors trained to plant explosives inside chest of female suicide bombers". The Daily Mirror. 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-14. "MI6 chiefs believe doctors have been trained to plant explosives inside the breasts of female suicide bombers."  mirror
  52. ^ Lines, Andy (2013-08-16). "Breast implants suicide bomb threat: Heathrow on high alert over "credible" intelligence". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2013-08-21. "Security has been beefed up after intelligence al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on airlines flying out of London."  [4]
  54. ^ "Bomb Making Skills Spread Globally", National Defense magazine, June 2007[dead link]

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