MA IED clearance organisations should be acutely aware of the previous actions of other operators and agencies such as security forces, and how these may have been observed and targeted during the conflict. For example, if security forces were regularly conducting manual actions such as moving IED components by hand, or manually cutting explosive or electrical links, these patterns may have provided an opportunity for them to be targeted.
ׁ WARNING. If at any stage an MA organisation believes that it is being deliberately targeted, operations should immediately cease until it can be confirmed it is no longer under direct threat.
COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE
IEDs are frequently used in asymmetric conflicts involving various armed groups. These conflicts tend to be cyclic and enforcing international treaties can be problematic. Establishing and maintaining community consent is therefore critical to avoid breaches of neutrality. It may not be immediately evident whether an armed group still maintains an active interest in IEDs that were placed during the conflict, especially when fighting continues in neighbouring areas. The community is likely to be the best source of indicators on the presence of suitable conditions.
ׁ WARNING. If these conditions are not achieved, then the risk of an MA organisation being deliberately targeted increases and this guide cannot be effectively or safely applied.
MA organisations operating in an IED-affected, asymmetric conflict space, should consider developing and implementing community liaison plans that identify potential changes in the humanitarian space. These should cut across functional areas from strategic to tactical, and involve programme, operational, risk education and survey staff.
1.1. TECHNICAL OVERVIEW OF AN IED
There are five component parts common to most modern IEDs:
• Main charge . This contains the explosives (low or high) intended to function and deliver a specific effect. The explosives may be home made, military or commercial. High explosives will detonate whether confined or unconfined, whereas low explosives will burn when unconfined and produce a higher-pressure event if suitably confined. Armed groups will often try to configure a main charge to a desired effect, which falls into two categories: a directional blast effect or an omnidirectional blast effect. A directional blast effect is used specifically to focus the power of the explosive and/or fragmentation in a particular direction, whilst an omnidirectional blast effect is used when a radial effect is desirable. • Initiator . This is the component designed to initiate the main charge. High explosives require a detonator, whereas low explosives can be initiated by a heat source such as the bridge wire from a light bulb. The initiator can be home made, commercially or military manufactured or it can be converted; for example, a plain detonator can be converted to an electrical one. • Firing switch . This component passes energy (power) to the initiator to complete initiation. This could be kinetic energy from a cocked striker, heat from a burning fuse or electrical energy from a battery. • Power source . This stores the energy (power) that is released through the method of initiation and then transferred to the initiator. Frequently, this will be a battery (electrical) but could be chemical (heat) in a safety fuse, or potential energy (kinetic) in a compressed spring. • Container . The means by which all or some of the other IED components are encased. It may include the object that holds the main charge or the packaging that surrounds the battery. It may camouflage the device and / or generate fragmentation including directional effects.
General considerations for IED clearance
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