Toronto Star : Taliban's deadliest weapons lie in wait

Taliban's deadliest weapons lie in wait

September 29, 2007

KANDAHAR–Canadian troops are winning the war on the battlefield but risk losing their way on the roads, as the Taliban use buried bombs as their weapon of choice against Canadian convoys.

Surprisingly simple to make, easily buried in the dirt roads and deadly effective, one chilling estimate suggests there are hundreds of these bombs lying in wait for soldiers in Kandahar region.

"It is the major threat here in theatre," said Maj. Max Messier, of the 5th Combat Engineers Regiment, based in Valcartier, Que.

"That's the biggest challenge. We don't know where and how we're going to face it. On a daily basis, we are facing that threat."

Roadside bombs have been the biggest killer of Canadians here – of the 71 soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2002, 31 have been killed by buried bombs. And 22 of those deaths have occurred this year.

Perhaps most chilling for the Canadians is just how easy it is to make one of these weapons.

To prove that point, Messier reaches into a cardboard box and pulls out the components of a bomb, some of it taken from devices the Canadians have discovered and defused.

"This they can find everywhere, this is easily made," he said.

It starts with the explosive, typically a few mines or artillery shells, easily found in this war-ravaged land.

"This country has been at war for 20, 30 years. There's a lot of ammunition lying around. If there's a bit of explosive, they can make a (bomb) out of it," Messier said, cradling a disarmed artillery shell.

He shows off the trigger, in this case a "pressure plate," that will set off the detonation, usually fashioned from scrap metal and wood. This is one is made from two old saw blades.

When a vehicle rolls over it or a soldier steps it on, the two pieces of metal are squeezed together to make contact, completing the circuit that sparks the detonation.

But insurgents have also been setting off their bombs by radio signal, either with a cellphone, walkie-talkie, even garage door openers. Doing it this way lets an insurgent pick his target. Watching from a safe distance, he can use the radio signal to trigger the bomb just as a military vehicle rolls over it.

Finally, there's the household battery that powers the circuit – oddly enough, it's the one component of the bomb that is the toughest for the insurgents to acquire.

Messier said the Canadians have seen the "whole spectrum" of roadside bombs, from the low-tech to sophisticated devices.

But now they're girding themselves for something even more deadly – roadside bombs that use shaped charges to blast through armoured plating.

"That's something that's being used in Iraq and we might believe it could be used here. The soldiers are trained to face that kind of threat as well. But it's not one of biggest threats we've seen here in Afghanistan," Messier said.

"The threat is moving from one theatre to another."

Another trend that Canadians are watching for is insurgents videotaping an attack to be used later for propaganda. That, too, has been done in Iraq with the footage easily found on the Internet.

Messier said he's seen no video showing Canadians under attack. But he tells the troops to always assume they're being watched if they hit a mine.

Troops in Afghanistan have already seen a worrisome trend to bigger bombs. With each fatal attack, Canadians have responded with new tactics – and heavier vehicles – and insurgents have responded in kind.

"The insurgents are doing the same thing as we're doing. They're adapting to the threat. If it means they have to make the biggest bomb to make what they want, they will do it," Messier said.

Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger and Sgt. Robert Short were the first Canadians killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan when their unarmoured Iltis jeep was hit in 2003 in Kabul.

But now insurgents have blown apart the most heavily armoured vehicles in the Canadian fleet – the LAV III, a transport trusted by the troops, and the RG-31 Nyala armoured vehicle.

The Nyala is a brute of a truck and is built to withstand mine attacks with a V-shaped hull meant to deflect a blast from below.

But even that design wasn't enough to save troops in early July when their RG-31 hit buried explosives, killing the six Canadian soldiers and one Afghan interpreter onboard.

Still, the vehicle remains prized by troops in the field for the protection it does offer.

Messier refused to say how often Canadians are hitting roadside bombs. One report says at least once a week; within the last three weeks, there have been three strikes, injuring five soldiers.

And in July, defence officials released some disturbing statistics – vehicles travelling in Kandahar province had been hit by 150 bombs in a 12-month period, while another 150 of the devices had been detected and disarmed.

Canadian soldiers remain dangerously exposed to roadside bombs compared with their allies here. Unlike the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, Canada does not have helicopters and is forced to move personnel and equipment by road.

But progress is being made, Messier said. Canadians are finding three out of five buried bombs, thanks to their vigilance and tips from the local community.