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In Afghanistan, bomb blasts hit high in July

Makeshift-bomb attacks in July wounded a record number of U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan, and experts say even more would have died without widespread use of armored vehicles.

More than 1,300 improvised explosive devices were detonated or defused in July — a record, said the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization. That’s a 42 percent increase over July 2009. In July 2010, IEDs wounded 399 service members — a 68 percent increase — and killed 53.

More troops are surviving blasts in part because of the substantial increase in the number of armored trucks designed to help troops survive bomb blasts, said John Pike, a military analyst at Globalsecurity.org.

In July, there were about 9,400 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon. There were fewer than 3,000 a year ago. “Certainly a factor in survival has been the use of new vehicles there,” Pike said. “There are a lot more MRAPs.”

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli said rapid production and quick fielding of the trucks has allowed soldiers to accomplish their missions safely.

“I have been tracking this,” Chiarelli said. “My comment is simple: MRAPs are saving lives.”

The truck’s V-shaped hull helps deflect the force of bombs buried in roads. More than a third of the MRAPs in combat were tailor-made for Afghanistan. This all-terrain version of the truck allows it to traverse rugged roads and to travel off-road to avoid routes that have been seeded with bombs.

Afghan insurgents most often rely on homemade explosives, fashioned from fertilizer and fuel oil. They bury the bombs under roads or paths, and the weight of vehicles or foot traffic triggers the explosion.

Army 1st Lt. Earl Semadeni, who leads soldiers on patrols in southern Afghanistan, said recently that improvised explosive devices had destroyed two all-terrain MRAPs, but his soldiers survived and returned to duty.

“The trucks completely disintegrated,” he said in a telephone interview. “But the crew capsule remained intact. The guys said a few cuss words, but that was about it.”

The increase in attacks and casualties also stems from the 30,000 service members that President Obama ordered to Afghanistan this year to stem the Taliban insurgency. Most of those troops have been sent to restive provinces in the southern and eastern parts of the country where insurgents have fought back hard. There are about 100,000 U.S. service members in Afghanistan and 48,000 from allied countries.

“We continue to create a target-rich environment for the enemy,” Pike said. “We’re having more IED casualties because we have more troops in harm’s way. And the Taliban are not growing any weaker.”

Army Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, who leads JIEDDO, the Pentagon’s counter-IED effort, said in a recent interview that he expects casualties to continue to increase this summer as troops challenge Taliban and other insurgents in areas that have been havens. “The total volume of IEDs will continue to rise a little while longer.”

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