Our first hour today took a look at the dangerous world of military bomb squads. The Department of Defense’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization provided On Point with some hard statistics about IED attacks in Afghanistan, where there has been an increase in the use of such weapons over the past 14 months. It’s striking to see the spike in numbers — from 2,677 IED incidents in 2007 to 8,159 last year. The first couple of months in 2010 indicate that heightened level of violence is continuing.
Here are statistics for the first two months in 2010:
Afghanistan Jan. 2010
IED Incidents: 727
Found/cleared: 407
Ineffective: 226
Effective attacks: 67
Coalition Forces Killed: 32
Coalition Forces Wounded: 137Afghanistan Feb. 2010
IED Incidents: 721
Found/cleared: 410
Ineffective: 198
Effective attacks: 91
Coalition Forces Killed: 28
Coalition Forces Wounded: 176
And here are the data year-to-year in Afghanistan, 2007-09:
Afghanistan 2007
IED Incidents: 2,677
Found/cleared: 1,158
Ineffective: 1,136
Effective attacks: 206
Coalition Forces Killed: 77
Coalition Forces Wounded: 415Afghanistan 2008
IED Incidents 3,867
Found/cleared: 1,892
Ineffective: 1,470
Effective attacks 387
Coalition Forces Killed: 183
Coalition Forces Wounded: 790Afghanistan 2009
IED Incidents: 8,159
Found/cleared: 4,180
Ineffective: 2,927
Effective attacks 821
Coalition Forces Killed: 322
Coalition Forces Wounded: 1,818(Courtesy of the Department of Defense’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.)
Tags: Afghanistan, military, war
Anyone have the same metrics for IEDs in Traq?
Posted by Kate, on March 16th, 2010 at 11:14 AMSorry, I meant Iraq, it was a typo.
Posted by Kate, on March 16th, 2010 at 11:15 AMWe welcome comments from all of our listeners. We ask that you stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
While we encourage a robust, open debate on the topic at hand, these comment threads are moderated by On Point and WBUR, and we may delete comments that we judge to be off-topic, unduly repetitive, or that descend into personal, ad hominem attacks.
You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. On Point and WBUR cannot verify the accuracy of comments posted here.