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US-led warplanes are going after ISIS' most devastating weapon
(Wissm al-Okili/Reuters) The aftermath of an ISIS car-bomb attack.
US-led coalition forces launched a successful airstrike last weekend against a crucial Islamic State explosives facility.
The strikes destroyed a facility near Makhmur, Iraq, that was used to produce vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs). These car bombs are one of the main weapons used by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh, to devastating effect across both Iraq and Syria.
"These strikes, conducted in coordination with the government of Iraq, will help reduce the ability of Daesh to utilize their weapon of choice – VBIEDs," US Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea said in a statement. "Daesh VBIEDs are responsible for many attacks against Iraqi Security Forces and atrocities committed against Iraqi civilians."
ISIS VBIEDs are advanced enough to produce even macabre amazement in their potential victims. One Baghdad police officer told Der Spiegel that these car bombs "were so sophisticated that they destroyed everything; there was nothing left of the car and nothing to investigate how the explosive charge was assembled."
Aside from smaller car bombs, ISIS has also perfected the use of multiton truck and Humvee bombs as military weapons. Among the group's favorite tactics is filling stolen armored US Humvees with explosives to decimate static defenses of the Iraqi Security Forces.
ISIS has used these bomb-laden Humvees in waves of suicide bombings across both Syria and Iraq, targeting strategic locations — including Syrian military bases and the Iraqi provincial capital of Ramadi, which fell to the militants at the end of May.
You can view a GIF of the coalition airstrike that destroyed the VBIED facility below.
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