Taliban claim to debut new bomb 'Omar'

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban claimed Tuesday to have developed a new bomb nicknamed Omar after their fugitive leader and which they say is impossible Western mine sweepers to detect.

The biggest killer of Western troops in Afghanistan are home-made bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, which the Taliban deploy to wide effect in their eight-year insurgency and detonate by remote control.

Western military intelligence officials have said most foreign troop deaths, which hit a record 520 last year, are caused by IEDs.

But the Taliban claimed -- ahead of a major assault by foreign troops on the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand province -- to have created a new IED using materials that make them undetectable.

The militia, which is leading an insurgency to bring down the Western-backed Afghan government and evict foreign troops, routinely exaggerates its claims.

The network's spokesman, who identified himself as Yousuf Ahmadi, said the new bomb had been named after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahed, believed to be based in Pakistan.

"Omar is our latest weapon in the war against the invaders," he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"It's a very effective bomb, it can't be detected by mine-sweeping vehicles and it causes more deaths," he said.

He refused to provide more details, saying "it's our military secret" but added that each Omar cost around 100 dollars to make.

"With a 100-dollar mine we are able to destroy the enemy's multi-million-dollar anti-mine vehicles," he claimed, referring to heavily armoured vehicles used in Afghanistan by US and other NATO troops.

Ahamdi charged the "Omar bomb" had already been used in attacks on Western forces, but his claim could not be verified immediately.

Around 113,000 foreign troops are deployed to Afghanistan under US and NATO command fighting a Taliban insurgency that increasingly relies on IEDs and suicide bomb attacks as its tactics have morphed into guerilla warfare.

So far this year 62 foreign soldiers have died in the Afghan theatre, according to an AFP tally based on the independent icasualties.org website.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...SZtu0R1wDA3ihw

Sounds to me like they are rushing to create a deterrent for us so that the latest operation doesn't happen.

Though, saying that, I bloody well hope they haven't developed one

Edit re battery: Apparently it works by mixing two liquids together when it is stepped on, setting off a chain of bombs around it.

Not new news to be honest Low metal content pressure pads have been used in the past, plastic parts on the pressure pad, graphite contacts etc, the only major part that becomes a problem for them to hide is the battery

Its amazing what you can make when you think about it

It's not really all that difficult to do. I don't think we need to elaborate how but consider that minimum metal mines have been in service worldwide for decades. We used to have them ourselves - the ELSIE was such a design if you removed the metal detector collar.

Brief overview here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_metal_mine

Its just counter propaganda. IEDs are a tactical weapon and any good tactician will expect them to be deployed in appropriate places and of course they make them difficult to detect. But nothing is impossible to detect, because if it doesnt have a signature it exists in a void and it is therefore detectable as an anomaly. Nuff said.

Originally Posted by waitout

Not new news to be honest Low metal content pressure pads have been used in the past, plastic parts on the pressure pad, graphite contacts etc, the only major part that becomes a problem for them to hide is the battery

Its amazing what you can make when you think about it

Apparently it works by mixing two liquids together when it is stepped on, setting off a chain of bombs around it.

So they're using something that creates electricity when two liquids mix?

Sounds very futuristic I'm sure its possible to get these chemicals for that price, I wonder which chemical producing country is providing that then?

Originally Posted by waitout

So they're using something that creates electricity when two liquids mix?

Sounds very futuristic I'm sure its possible to get these chemicals for that price, I wonder which chemical producing country is providing that then?

Yes, effectively i'd assume they're making a form of battery. However, surely they could be using extremely small metal quantities as all would be needed are crude versions of an anode/cathode, which can be very small. Therefore the Taliban may think they are undetectable? I don't know; i'm not one.

But yeah, sounds more of a made up invention to be used as propoganda

Or the two liquids could combine together to generate heat which would negate the need for anything to carry an electric current. If that were the case then the heat would ignite a detonator (wax paper wrapped) which would then initiate the main charge.

No metals required if the two liquids were in glass phials.

I imagine it would be quite sensitive to damp so as long as the guys are issued with a 30m hose and 200l of water each then they could spray their paths to victory. Now we know where all that fire piquet training will come in handy!

If we had such a thing, would we be rushing to tell the Taliban about it?

Sounds like amateur hour propaganda to me.

We are losing enough people as it is with 'detectable' bombs. The answer is more helicopters, but our political 'betters' think corpses are cheaper than giving their soldiers adequate equipment.