1. How does the Taliban Employ IEDs?

2. FOB Salerno Attack, RC-East 2012
• https://youtu.be/JeTVbaMSGH0
• 1 June 2012
• Combined VBIED and guerrilla raid
• 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of explosives
• 14 Haqqani gunmen with small arms, RPGs, and suicide vests
• 2 Americans and 5 Afghan civilians killed
• Over 100 injuried
• Gunmen advanced 50-60 meters inside the gate before being
engaged and killd

3. Types

4. VBIED
• Vehicle-Borne IED
• “Car bomb”
• Breaching for assaults
• Ambush convoys
• Can range from
motorcycles to cement
mixers

5. Suicide Bombings
• Suicide-Bomber IED
• Assassinations
• Provocation
• Use of women and children
• Turban bombs

6. Mines
• “Roadside bombs” or “toe-
poppers”
• Command detonated
• Remote detonated
• Victim-operated
• Most often used against
dismounted patrols
• Secondaries against QRF

7. Uses

8. Complex Attacks
• IEDs, RPGs, and small arms
• IED used to disable vehicles and
pin patrol in place
• US won’t abandon equipment if
it can help it
• Breaching fixed positions with
follow-on assault

9. Area Denial
• Used like conventional
minefields
• Usually victim-operated
• Requires route clearance patrol
to find and disarm IEDs
• Force coalition troops or aid
organizations to stay out of
vulnerable villages

10. Delaying Operation
• US military relies on speed,
surprise, and violence of action
• Route clearance patrols are
lumbering and slow moving
• Helicopters are in short supply
• Allow Taliban to clear out before
raid or patrol

11. Assassination
• Command detonation and
suicide bombers
• Targeting district officials and
religious leaders
• Reverse security gains
• Discredit and challenge the
government
• Intimidate local leaders