Public security

It Is No Longer Possible to Ignore the Threat of IEDs

Mine clearance operators entering Mosul and the surrounding areas as ISIS have been driven out have found huge swathes of territory littered with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), particularly improvised mines.

The humanitarian mine action charity Mines Advisory Group (MAG) report these improvised mines to be powerful enough to disable a tank but sensitive enough to be activated by a child. MAG alone has reported clearance of over 11,000 newly laid mines in Iraq and Syria since September 2015, and ISIS is reportedly making IEDs on a ‘quasi-industrial scale'.(opens in new window)

For civilians wishing to return to their homes these mines present a major impediment and will be a significant bar to progress long after the fighting stops.

The worldwide use of purpose-built anti-personnel landmines remains low, with just three states recorded to have used anti-personnel mines in 2016, but IEDs have become a prominent weapon in current conflict, particularly among non-state armed groups. These groups capitalize on the ease of sourcing IED component parts and their rudimentary assembly, deploying them with great effect in asymmetric warfare.