Some are accusing Iran of supplying the kind of roadside bomb that recently killed four British soldiers. But EFPs have a longer history than this recent war. The infra-red trigger was used by the IRA, who commonly shared their tactics/technology with other groups — including PLO groups sponsored by Saddam.
PLO-IRA One StruggleA mural from Northern Ireland (not taken from story below)
IRA bombs killed eight British soldiers in Iraq (Oct 2005)
Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
The soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams. The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services in a botched “sting” operation more than a decade ago.
[...] According to security sources, the technology for the bombs used in the attacks, which were developed using technology from photographic flash units, was employed by the IRA some 15 years ago after Irish terrorists were given advice by British agents.
“We are seeing technology in Iraq today that it took the IRA 20 years to develop,” said a military intelligence officer with experience in Northern Ireland.
He revealed that one trigger used in a recent Iraqi bombing was a three-way device, combining a command wire, a radio signal and an infra-red beam – a technique perfected by the IRA.
Britain claims that the bomb-making expertise now being used in southern Iraq was passed on by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard through Hizbollah, the revolutionary Islamist group it sponsors in Lebanon.
But a former agent who infiltrated the IRA told The Independent on Sunday that the technology reached the Middle East through the IRA’s co-operation with Palestinian groups. In turn, some of these groups used to be sponsored by Saddam Hussein and his Baath party.
The former agent added: “The photographic flashgun unit was replaced with infra-red and then coded infra-red, but basically they were variations of the same device. The technology came from the security forces, but the IRA always shared its equipment and expertise with Farc guerrillas in Colombia, the Basque separatists, ETA and Palestinian groups. There is no doubt in my mind that the technology used to kill our troops in Basra is the same British technology from a decade ago.”
Very interesting stuff–I wasn’t aware that the IRA was using these things so long ago. EFPs are particularly deadly, and there does seem to be a connection between their spread and the involvement of Hezbollah. When those things first made their way to Iraq, there was a clear Hezbollah connection, which means Iran was behind it in some capacity.
By: Decline and Fall on April 10, 2007
at 8:36 pm
I feel it undermines the claim that Iran is building these EFPs. It only takes one person who knows how to build them, IR switches and all, to spread the knowledge.
Improvised explosive devices don’t require international conspiracies. (Feb 2007)
You can’t keep technology secret.
As well as the above mentioned workshop, there is also some noise about the WPost publishing a story about an EFP factory discovered in Diwaniyah, then retracting the story.
CS Monitor has a reference to the factory:
By: misterlister on April 11, 2007
at 11:45 am