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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: IED

IED stories: 14 news summaries

UK Colonel's Death Raises Fury at Home

He's killed by roadside bomb after warning about lack of choppers

Oct 31, 09 1:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Britain's newspapers are up in arms today over the revelation that a commander got killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan just weeks after warning his superiors they weren't doing enough to prevent such deaths. Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe complained in an email that troops didn't have enough helicopters and... More »

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Afghanistan • IED • roadside bomb • British troops • Afghanistan war • helicopters • Rupert Thorneloe

(Newser) - The war in Afghanistan is getting deadlier for both coalition troops and Afghan forces, reports James Dao in the New York Times, mostly because of an increase in homemade bomb attacks—465  in May alone. The IEDs—improvised explosive devices—are getting more sophisticated as well as more common, and... More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • US military • IED • roadside bomb • bomb • coalition troops • Afghanistan war • improvised explosive device

Grave Lack of Security at Fed Buildings: GAO

Agents snuck in bomb parts, assembled them in restrooms

Jul 8, 09 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - A covert investigation shows the nation’s federal buildings are woefully under-protected from potential terrorist attacks, CNN reports. Undercover agents were able to sneak bomb components through security into each of the 10 federal buildings—occupied by the Homeland Security, Justice, and State departments—they tested, assemble explosive devices in... More »

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Congress • terrorism • IED • bomb • Department of Homeland Security • GAO • Government Accountability Office • federal building • Federal Protective Service • improvised explosive device

 IED Casualties in 
 Afghanistan Soaring 

75% of coalition deaths result from roadside explosives

Apr 3, 09 5:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Improvised roadside bombs caused 75% of all casualties among coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first two months of this year, up from 50% two years ago, reports USA Today. The rate of casualties from IEDs is also higher than at any time in Iraq, calling for urgent pleas for... More »

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Afghanistan • Pentagon • Robert Gates • US military • IED • Department of Defense • Afghanistan war

Skirting Laws, Iran Buys Bomb Parts From US Firms

Materials used to make top weapon against US troops

Jan 11, 09 8:43 AM CST
(Newser) - Through front firms and complex maneuvering, Iran skirts trading laws to buy bomb parts from US companies, the Washington Post reports. The equipment allows production of improvised explosive devices, or IEDS, bombs that are the leading killer of US troops in Iraq, according to Justice Department documents and a new... More »

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Iraq • Iran • nuclear weapons • US military • imports • IED • bomb • US exports • weapons

Pentagon Kept Humvees Despite Known IED Threat

Officials delayed switch to safer vehicles: report

Dec 9, 08 6:35 AM CST
(Newser) - Military leaders knew before the Iraq war that roadside bombs would threaten troops, but they still dragged their heels on adopting vehicles more resistant to IEDs, a Pentagon investigation has found. In 2005 officials stopped processing an urgent request from field commanders for vehicles called MRAPs, whose height and hull... More »

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Pentagon • Humvees • IED • soldier • MRAP • Marine • Iraq war • investigations

 Afghanistan's
 Insurgency
 Endures

Attacks highlight security decline

Aug 14, 08 12:26 PM CDT
(Newser) - The insurgency in Afghanistan is mushrooming, and targeting the refurbished highway that provides a weak connection between the country's ethnic halves, the New York Times reports. A series of deadly attacks in June has exposed the tribulations of the United States' 6-year-old effort to defeat the Taliban. More »

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Afghanistan • Taliban • insurgents • United States • Kabul • IED • US troops • Kandahar • Highway 1 • insurgency

 Iraq Insurgents Gain
 Deadly New Weapon 

Rocket-bomb attacks can kill dozens at a time

Jul 10, 08 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Shiite insurgents in Iraq have been attacking US forces with a new weapon the military fears could kill dozens of troops at a time, reports the Washington Post. Rocket-propelled bombs, made of propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives, have killed at least 21 people this year, including... More »

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Iraq • insurgents • Baghdad • rocket attacks • IED • bomb • Shiite insurgents • rocket

Confident Marines Cut 'Bombproof' Truck Orders

Cite fewer attacks, changing mission

Nov 30, 07 7:09 AM CST
(Newser) - The Marines are cutting orders of a nearly "bombproof" Hummer replacement from 3,700 to 2,225, reflecting a more peaceful Iraq and the success of the vehicle, reports the Christian Science Monitor. “Combine the reduction in attacks with the fact that we're not losing as many vehicles... More »

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Iraq • Afghanistan • IED • roadside bomb • US Army • hummer • MRAP • Marine

Laser-Humvee Will Hunt IEDs

Boeing's 'Laser Avenger' diffuses bombs with a super-hot beam

Nov 24, 07 2:25 PM CST
(Newser) - Boeing has developed a laser-equipped Humvee designed to disarm IEDs, CNET's military tech blog reports. The weapon system, known as the “Laser Avenger,” consists of a 1-kilowatt laser added to an anti-aircraft Humvee-mounted missile turret, and can neutralize a bomb by shooting the super-hot laser into it until... More »

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Humvees • Boeing • IED • laser • Iraq war

IEDs Pose Growing Risk
on US Soil

Bush administration slow to develop strategy, say critics

Oct 20, 07 12:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Improvised bombs—terrorists' weapon of choice in Iraq and elsewhere—pose a growing threat on US soil, but the Bush administration has been slow to devise a strategy against them, the Washington Post reports. The Bush team will soon issue a long-overdue plan to counter the so-called IEDs, but critics... More »

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IED • Michael Chertoff

Roadside Bombs Redefine Iraqi War, Bedevil US

$10B hasn't produced countermeasures to easy-to-make IEDs

Sep 30, 07 7:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Simple, cheap and lethal roadside bombs have become the defining weapon of the Iraq war, confounding the Pentagon and taking a devastating toll on US troops, the Washington Post reports in a history and analysis of our tk Iraq. The devices, which account for nearly two-thirds of US combat deaths,... More »

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insurgents • IED • Iraq war

Merriam Makes Ginormous Addition

Main Entry: gi·nor·mous
Function: adjective
Etymology: gigantic + enormous
Date: circa 1948
: extremely large : humongous

Jul 10, 07 9:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - The word wranglers at Merriam-Webster have, after 49 long years, admitted 'ginormous' into the company's collegiate dictionary. Other newly approved words include crunk (southern rap music), and the abbreviations DVR and IED.  Also admitted to the class of 2007 were smackdowns, telenovas, gray literature, and microgreen.   Look... More »

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IED • ginormous • telenovas • smackdowns • microgreen • crunk • DVR • Merriam Webster

14 Troops Killed in 2 Days

5 soldiers dead after roadside bomb explosion; death toll hits 3,545

Jun 21, 07 12:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Fourteen American troops have been killed in Iraq over the past 2 days, bringing the US death toll to 3,545, with 68 fatalities in June. In the deadliest recent attack, five troops died today after a roadside bomb detonated under their vehicle in northeastern Iraq. Commanders attribute the worsening... More »

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Iraq • military • Baghdad • IED • roadside bomb • Iraq death toll • US troops • US Army • soldier • Anbar • Iraq war

14 Stories


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