IED Clearance Good Practice Guide

3.6.4. SCENARIO 4 – COMMAND-WIRE IED (DAISY CHAIN) TARGETING A ROUTE

Firing point

Contact point

Image 74. Showing the contact point (track junction) and firing point (tree on high ground)

SURVEY INFORMATION

A rural community identified a suspect object near the primary junction at the entrance to their village. Having previously received risk education they believed it may be an IED.

A survey team visited the community and a 3 m section of wire was reported running along a ditch perpendicular to the main track junction. The junction had been continually used by the community over the last 12 months with no accidents. It was reported that during the conflict a state armed group would patrol the village once a week. They would travel to the village in three lightly armed vehicles, which would halt at the main crossroads to allow troops to dismount and then progress into the village on foot. The community reported that the track had ‘sunk’ in three locations where vehicles from a state armed group would normally have stopped. These areas were now collecting water and this had not happened previously. Prior to the cessation of hostilities, the community believe that the NSAG had been planning a spectacular attack. However, the community reported that an air strike was conducted by the government on the main NSAG operating base in the area, killing the vast majority of their fighters.

INTENT

The intent of the NSAG was to target the state armed group as they patrolled the village. They did not want to cause inadvertent casualties, either of their own forces or of the local community.

CAPABILITY

The NSAG had access to high metal content pressure plates with HME-filled metal cased main charges or HE abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) / unexploded ordnance (UXO) that they had sourced. They also had command wires up to 200 m long utilising the same types of main charges. As the state armed group had effective electronic counter-measures (ECM) the NSAG rarely used RCIEDs.

Technical IED capabilities

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