Insurgents terrorise Iraq with sticky bombs

Insurgent groups in Baghdad have added a new weapon to their urban warfare armoury by developing a small but deadly device to destroy vehicles carrying government employees, police officers and military personnel. Known as 'sticky bombs', they consist of a few pounds of plastic explosive that can be moulded into shape and attached to the target by a magnet or adhesive tape, then detonated by a timer or mobile phone.

Last Friday, one such device killed a top official of the Iraqi Ministry of Labour as he was driving through downtown Baghdad. A week earlier, a team of American radio journalists had a narrow escape when a sticky bomb was planted under their armoured BMW while they were conducting interviews at a restaurant in a Baghdad suburb.

An Iraqi civilian spotted the bomber and alerted troops nearby, who were able to intercept the journalists as they headed back to their vehicle. At that moment, the bomb was triggered, probably by remote control, and the car blew up.

14 men and women were burned alive when a bomb exploded their minibus

According to official figures, sticky bomb attacks are increasing steadily and seizures of devices from insurgent arms caches are also significantly higher. Last month 14 men and women working for Iraq's Trade Ministry were burned alive after a bomb exploded beside the petrol tank of their minibus: investigators believe it was placed there while the vehicle stopped at a regular Baghdad pick-up point.

The Iraqi authorities have begun distributing leaflets urging the public to check under their cars, while the US military regards this new threat as serious enough to merit special training courses for troops serving in Baghdad.

"These things don't kill or maim on anything like the scale of car bombs and exploding suicide belts, but they create a real climate of fear among people who have reason to believe they may be at risk," a senior American official told The First Post.

Sticky bombs were originally developed during WWII as anti-tank weapons

Paradoxically, the sudden rise in the use of sticky bombs - which first appeared in Iraq several years ago - reflects the growing effectiveness of measures taken by the security forces to counter terrorist operations.

"One reason for the big fall in casualties this year is that we're capturing a lot more explosives, while improvements to blast walls and safety barriers and better checkpoint procedures are also saving lives," the same officer pointed out. "That's forced the bad guys to use bombs that are much easier to conceal and can just be slapped under a car bumper or a sidewalk cafe table."

Although sticky bombs were originally developed during World War Two for use as anti-tank weapons, and were also deployed against shipping in the form of 'limpet' mines, the ability to trigger them by remote control makes the modern version ideal for attacks on specific targets. But the bombers' technology is not always that advanced: one US army unit recently discovered a sticky bomb primed by a slowly smouldering length of fuse cord.