Bomb technology improving (In Iraq)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=533079

IRAQI bomb experts say they have come across increasingly sophisticated booby traps and other makeshift devices since insurgents stepped up their resistance against the US-led coalition in August.

The 13-strong team, that patrols the Iraqi capital Baghdad day and night, suspects most of the remotely detonated, timer-controlled bombs are concocted by Iraqis, unlike the explosive-packed cars they believe are driven by foreign militants ready to sacrifice their lives.

"Immediately after the war, we mainly dealt with unexploded ordnance such as missiles and grenades, but since August we mostly find improvised bombs, some of them quite complex," says Colonel Ismail, speaking at one of Baghdad's police stations and reporting 450 alerts since August.

"Those assembling the bombs are often very shrewd. They connect the explosive charge to both a timer and a remote detonator," he says. "They want to make sure the bomb will go off and kill.

"They obviously have electrical skills."
<snip>