Article

2020-01-12 Afghanistan

Two US Service Members Killed in Kandahar

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Posted by trailing wife 2020-01-12 01:05|| || Front Page|| [9 views ] Top
File under: Taliban

#1 Who made the IED?

Posted by gorb 2020-01-12 01:17|| 2020-01-12 01:17|| Front Page Top

#2 More importantly, what will the US respond be?

Posted by Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2020-01-12 04:11|| 2020-01-12 04:11|| Front Page Top

#3 Daily Mail story most likely the same story, i.e. "Two U.S. Service Members Killed in Kandahar."

Posted by JohnQC 2020-01-12 10:25|| 2020-01-12 10:25|| Front Page Top

#4 IEDs have been around a long time; long before our involvement in Afghanistan. They will continue to be a problem for a long time. IEDs are low-cost terrorists' approaches to terrorism and war.

IED detection, prevention of activation, rendering safe, and explosion are ways of dealing with them. Dogs have been effective in detection. Tech approaches to dealing with IEDS.

Posted by JohnQC 2020-01-12 10:43|| 2020-01-12 10:43|| Front Page Top

#5 Most taliban IEDs are ANFO type devices using NH₄NO₃ (ammonium nitrate) and fuel oil mix to create an incendiary effect. In 2014, when NH₄NO₃ became unavailable for some time, there was an occasional appearance of more complex devices; even directional booby traps and such, using material from unexploded ordnance and russian grenades. But the composition could be traced and suppliers easily stopped. You killed all the suppliers and effectively stopped the complex IED makers because their sources were within Afghanistan, Iran and Europe.

Some resourceful guys learnt to use TATP obtained from hydrogen peroxide and acetone to produce bigger explosions. These are yet very tough to obtain, and only the very resourceful or trained guys use them They often end up blowing up themselves as it's sensitive stuff not meant for sasquatch hands. But the Afghan taliban are still dependent on NH₄NO₃ which is conveniently supplied from factories in the 'Stain.

While Karzai's gummint ordered a blanket ban on all chemical fertilizer in Afghanistan, the stuff still flows into Kandahar from Pakistain via Chaman on route N25, from Quetta Yupp ! That again.

Since Obama's time, Paki ammonium nitrate has been known to be used for taliban IEDs. The CIA knows everything, have known for quite some time. The owners of some firms actually have offices and residences in America ! Several investigations and fact-finding missions have been sent to Afghanistan, but the Pak side of the investigation was left to the pakistain gummint. I posted this info before, here it is again. It may not cover everything though, and I can't vouch for its accuracy.

Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-12 11:39|| 2020-01-12 11:39|| Front Page Top

#6 A cursory web search on the Fatima group, or Pakarab Fertilizers + IEDs could yield more info. Of course it'll be dated. For some reason, neither Langley not the media want Trump or Americans to think about this too much.

Posted by Dron66046 2020-01-12 11:52|| 2020-01-12 11:52|| Front Page Top

#7 TATP is the one “you can mix up in the bathtub of your mother,” according to one famous issue of the Al Qaeda monthly magazine some years back. But it’s touchy stuff, prone to blowing up if jiggled. Lots of work accident claims submitted in Gaza by grieving widows rejected by the cold-hearted insurance company bean counters. There aren’t many old semi-pro bomb makers, even among those with laboratory training.

Posted by trailing wife 2020-01-12 14:01|| 2020-01-12 14:01|| Front Page Top

#8 I posted this info before, here it is again. It may not cover everything though, and I can't vouch for its accuracy.

If you read it on the web, it must be true.

Posted by Skidmark 2020-01-12 17:25|| 2020-01-12 17:25|| Front Page Top

#9 Fluorescing N plumes from munitions?

Spectral resolved measurement of the nitrogen fluorescence emissions in air induced by electrons

Posted by Skidmark 2020-01-12 17:32|| 2020-01-12 17:32|| Front Page Top

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