Booby-Trapped Homes Pose Threat to Troops in Iraq

Insurgents load potential shelters with explosives
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 8, 2008 7:41 PM CDT
Booby-Trapped Homes Pose Threat to Troops in Iraq
Girls watch television as U.S. army soldiers search their home in Baqouba, in Iraq's Diyala province.   (AP Photo)

For US troops in Iraq’s still-volatile Diyala province, abandoned houses can be a refuge—or a serious threat, the Wall Street Journal reports. Soldiers depend on abandoned houses to provide shelter as combat bases, but insurgents have taken to wiring the buildings with “house-borne improvised explosive devices,” killing a dozen soldiers since 2007.

The Journal tells the story of troops “who walked right into” an insurgent trap: after deeming a town devoid of militants, soldiers adopted a house as their base. It seemed perfect —but later, a soldier spotted copper wiring outside. A search under tiled floors revealed that “the whole house is an IED,” a soldier warned. Had the troops not escaped before the booby-trap went off, “it would have been an al-Qaeda grand slam,” said an officer.
(More US military stories.)

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