- More powerful bombs are being used to target US soldiers
in Iraq, a senior Pentagon military official has said.
-
- Army Brigadier General David Rodriguez on Friday said
the trend of using more powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has
become prominent over the past two weeks.
-
- "We have noticed in the recent couple of weeks that
the IEDs are all being built more powerfully, with more explosive effort
in a smaller number of IEDs," Rodriguez told reporters at a Pentagon
briefing.
-
- His comments came a day after a roadside bomb targeted
a US military convoy in Baghdad, killing seven soldiers.
-
- "There are a lower number of IEDs, but they have
been more powerful," Rodriguez said.
-
- The brigadier could offer no explanation for the new
tactic, including whether or not those fighting US troops were using new
experts to cobble together explosive shells and other devices.
-
- But he said the military was using a broad effort to
detect and defeat IEDs by studying enemy tactics, shifting US military
procedures and boosting intelligence efforts.
-
- "We will continue to watch that carefully,"
he said.
-
- US Department of Defence spokesman Lawrence Di Rita noted
that US commanders in Iraq had said more IEDs were being discovered before
they could explode.
-
- Agencies
-
- http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres
- /A923F626-553F-4F7F-BE5C-77F0FE41A085.htm
|
