Daesh turning US military vehicles into bombs: Report
Daesh militants have improvised a unique terrorist-style of warfare: Turning American military vehicles seized as spoils of the US war in Iraq into destructive explosive devices, according to a report.
“Daesh modifies trucks and bulldozers by welding steel all over them,” General Dedawa Khurshid, a commander of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces battling the terrorist group, was quoted as saying by The Washington Times.
“Then they take high explosives and mount them in a special way on the front of the vehicles. A man will then take the vehicle and drive into our line and detonate it,” he added.
The trucks called VBEDs — or vehicle-borne explosive devices — are typically loaded with 550 pounds (250 kg) of explosives that can produce a blast radius of less than a kilometer, Gen. Khurshid said.
Daesh (ISIL) terrorists often turn military Humvees or bulldozers and other construction equipment into VBEDs to kill and injure Peshmerga forces, the report said.
“While ISIS has used suicide vehicles in the past, the modification of cars and tractors to attack on the front line like this is a new development,” said retired Col. Chris Kilford, a former military attaché at the Canadian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey.
“When they run into a fortified front, they will modify their equipment and tactics,” Col. Kilford, now a lecturer at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, added.
Faced with the new threat, the Peshmerga forces have stepped up their demands for heavy weaponry from the United States so that they can detonate the VBEDs before they reach their positions in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and a Daesh stronghold.
“We need special anti-tank weapons,” Gen. Khurshid said. “We need to be able to destroy these vehicles before they get close to us.”
Gruesome violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since the Daesh Takfiris launched an offensive in June 2014, and took control of portions of Iraqi territory. The Takfiris have also been carrying out suicide bombings in areas out of their control, including the capital Baghdad.
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