Improvised Explosive Device Attacks Research Articles

July 2022 Sleep Case of the Month: A Sleepy Scout

No abstract available. Article truncated after 150 words. History of Present Illness: A 25-year-old African American man complaining of excessive daytime somnolence. He was a US Army Ranger scout who received a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from an improvised explosive device attack in Afghanistan which resulted in a loss of about ¼ of his visual field. He said he slept well at night and there was no history of snoring. There was no history of any parasomnias. PMH, SH, FH: Other than the traumatic brain injury there was no significant PMH. His most recent brain scan showed only the remnants of his brain injury which resulted in an intracerebral hemorrhage which was managed conservatively. He was single. He did not smoke and had only moderate alcohol intake. There was no significant FH of sleep apnea. Physical Examination: Other than the visual field loss his physical examination was unremarkable. What should be done next? 1. Brain MRI 2. Electroencephalogram …

Assessment of Nigeria’s Response to Threat of Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) in Northeast Nigeria

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) is a homemade device designed and produced to explode and cause destruction. It is a device often used by insurgents and terrorist groups. IEDs are the cause of most of the deaths in modern warfare. Efforts to defeat IED attacks or threats is referred to as Counter-IED efforts. This paper assessed the CIED efforts of the Nigeria armed forces in the Northeast, identified the gaps and made suggestions on how to improve on the Nigeria armed forces current CIED strategy. The data were gathered using document analysis and interview method. The challenges the Nigeria armed forces face in the bid to counter-IEDs include insufficient technical skills and inadequate optimization of Research and Development (R&D) efforts. Others are poor coordination of CIED efforts and inappropriate equipment. To overcome these challenges, the Nigeria armed forces need to establish a Comprehensive CIED Training School and refocus its R&D efforts to enhance local production of CIED Equipment.

Numerical Investigation of Blast Performance of Plate-Reinforced Moment-Resisting Connection Using Large Concrete Filled Tubular Section

This paper presents a numerical study to investigate the blast performance of a plate-reinforced moment-resisting connection using a large concrete filled tubular (CFT) column with dimensions of 1000 × 1000 mm and a thickness of 40 mm. A steel H-section with dimensions of 700 × 300 × 13 × 24 mm is used for beam. The plate-reinforced large CFT connection is analyzed numerically using a finite element code to evaluate its blast resistance. The methodology of modeling the connection is validated based on a past experimental study and verified using an alternate finite element code. Five improvised explosive devices (IED) are considered as blast loadings. The blast resistance of the proposed connection against the IED attacks is investigated based on the design criteria specified in the U.S. government document, UFC 3-340-02, and in comparison to that of a widely used through-diaphragm moment connection. Local failure modes in the vicinity of the connections are also examined. Recommendation is provided for design practice.

Agent-based modelling and analysis of security and efficiency in airport terminals

Both security and efficiency are important performance areas of air transport systems. Several methods have been proposed to assess security risks and estimate efficiency independently, but only few of these methods identify relationships between security risks and efficiency performance indicators. To analyze security, efficiency, and the relationships relations between them, an agent-based methodology was proposed in this work. This methodology combines an agent-based security risk assessment approach with agent-based efficiency estimation. The methodology was applied to a case study that analyzes security regarding an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack, different commonly used efficiency performance indicators in the aviation domain, such as queuing time for passengers, and the relationships between them. Results showed that reducing security risks and improving efficiency were not always conflicting objectives. Reducing the number of passengers before the security checkpoint was found to be an effective measure to reduce security risks and improve efficiency aspects. Furthermore, results showed that airports should attempt to spread passengers across the available space as much as possible to reduce the impact of an IED attack.

Postal IEDs and risk assessment of work health and safety considerations for postal workers

Postal improvised explosive devices (IEDs) provide criminals and terrorists with a convenient mechanism for delivering an energetic payload to an intended victim with little operational risk. Postal IEDs formed 7% of IED attacks reported in the West between 1998-2015, are often dispatched in groups and can bring postal systems to a standstill. Nearly 30% of postal IED explosions occur in the postal worker environment and a third of the casualties caused by postal IEDs are postal workers. Postal IEDs are debatably a reasonably foreseeable cause of harm to postal workers and should be considered under the work health and safety (WHS) constructs of many Western nations. This paper considers this problem, using a probabilistic risk assessment model to inform a cost-benefit analysis considering potential risk reduction options for postal workers. It identifies that the control measures identified were not cost-effective where only the direct WHS costs pertaining to unintentional postal IED detonation within the mail delivery system were considered given the risk levels identified.

A finite element model of an anthropomorphic test device lower limb to assess risk of injuries during vertical accelerative loading

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were used extensively to target occupants of military vehicles during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan (2003–2011). War fighters exposed to an IED attack were highly susceptible to lower limb injuries. To appropriately assess vehicle safety and make informed improvements to vehicle design, a novel Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD), called the Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan), was designed for vertical loading. The main objective of this study was to develop and validate a Finite Element (FE) model of the WIAMan lower limb (WIAMan-LL). Appropriate materials and contacts were applied to realistically model the physical dummy. Validation of the model was conducted based on experiments performed on two different test rigs designed to simulate the vertical loading experienced during an under-vehicle explosion. Additionally, a preliminary evaluation of the WIAMan and Hybrid-III test devices was performed by comparing force responses to post-mortem human surrogate (PMHS) corridors. The knee axial force recorded by the WIAMan-LL when struck on the plantar surface of the foot (2 m/s) fell mostly within the PMHS corridor, but the corresponding data predicted by the Hybrid-III was almost 60% higher. Overall, good agreements were observed between the WIAMan-LL FE predictions and experiments at various pre-impact speeds ranging from 2 m/s up to 5.8 m/s. Results of the FE model were backed by mean objective rating scores of 0.67–0.76 which support its accuracy relative to the physical lower limb dummy. The observations and objective rating scores show the model is validated within the experimental loading conditions. These results indicate the model can be used in numerical studies related to possible dummy design improvements once additional PMHS data is available. The numerical lower limb is currently incorporated into a whole body model that will be used to evaluate the vehicle design for underbody blast protection.

Analysis of isolated transverse process fractures sustained during blast-related events.

Personnel have sustained a range of devastating blast injuries during recent conflicts. Previous studies have focused on severe injuries, including to the spine; however, no study has specifically focused on the most common spinal injury-transverse process (TP) fractures. Although their treatment usually requires limited intervention, analysis of TP fractures may help determine injury mechanisms. Data were collected from victims with spinal fractures who were injured in improvised explosive device attacks, from the UK's Joint Theatre Trauma Registry. The level and side of each TP fracture were recorded, as well as associated injuries, whether they were mounted or dismounted, and outcome (survivor or fatality). Most (80%) of the TP fractures were lumbar. More bilateral (both left and right fractures at the same level), and L5 TP fractures, were seen in fatalities than survivors. In the mounted group, lumbar TP fractures were statistically significantly associated with fatality, head injury, noncompressible torso hemorrhage, pelvic injury, and other spinal injuries. In the dismounted group, thoracic TP fractures were associated with head, chest wall, and other spinal injuries; and lumbar TP fractures were associated with pelvic and other spinal injuries. Different injury mechanisms of the TP in the mounted and dismounted groups are likely. Inertial forces acting within the torso due to rapid loading being transferred through the seat, or high intra-abdominal pressures causing the tensile forces acting through the lumbar fascia to avulse the TPs are likely mechanisms in the mounted group. Blunt trauma, violent lateral flexion-extension forces, or rapid flail of the lower extremities causing tension of the psoas muscle, avulsing the TP, are likely causes in the dismounted group. Isolated lumbar TP fractures can be used as markers for more severe injuries, and fatality, in mounted blast casualties. Prognostic and epidemiological, level III.

Modelling improvised explosive device attacks in the West – Assessing the hazard

Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) continue to be a terrorist weapon of choice. With increasing pressures on the economies of Western nations, spending on counter-terrorism is subject to greater scrutiny. Homeland security agencies are no longer exempt from government fiscal due diligence, needing to justify how their spending achieves best value-for-money. Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a valuable tool that can assist in this endeavour. This paper introduces a PRA model that characterises IED attacks in Western nations, and can be used to assess the risk reduction associated with IED attack countermeasures. When using the model with the START open-source terrorism database we identified that current IED attack countermeasures provide a risk reduction of at approximately 22%, and that terrorists using IEDs in Western nations cannot generally be considered adaptive, with the operational effectiveness of terrorists being approximately 7%.

Benefit of Distributed Security Queuing for Reducing Risks Associated With Improvised Explosive Device Attacks in Airport Terminals

Abstract Brussels Airport ceased operations for 12 days after a coordinated improvised explosive device (IED) attack by suicide bombers in March 2016, demonstrating that critical transport hubs can be disrupted for significant durations by terrorists. Designers of critical infrastructure need to consider countermeasures to such attacks, reducing a target's attractiveness and improving opportunities for business continuity. This can be achieved by considering the cost–benefit of potential countermeasures during the design phase for infrastructure. This paper uses a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model for IED attack to assess the costs and benefits of using distributed security queuing at airport terminals. Our results demonstrate that the use of distributed security queuing will offer casualty reductions when used in preference to centralized security queuing. However, when considering the cost–benefit of introducing distributed security queuing, on the basis of a single small to medium IED attack, it is likely that implementing this countermeasure would not be deemed cost-effective from a purely financial perspective, particularly when the threat likelihood is very low.

Terrorist Use of the Internet by the Numbers

Research SummaryPublic interest and policy debates surrounding the role of the Internet in terrorist activities is increasing. Criminology has said very little on the matter. By using a unique data set of 223 convicted United Kingdom–based terrorists, this article focuses on how they used the Internet in the commission of their crimes. As most samples of terrorist offenders vary in terms of capabilities (lone‐actor vs. group offenders) and criminal sophistication (improvised explosive devices vs. stabbings), we tested whether the affordances they sought from the Internet significantly differed. The results suggest that extreme‐right‐wing individuals, those who planned an attack (as opposed to merely providing material support), conducted a lethal attack, committed an improvised explosive device (IED) attack, committed an armed assault, acted within a cell, attempted to recruit others, and engaged in nonvirtual network activities and nonvirtual place interactions were significantly more likely to learn online compared with those who did not engage in these behaviors. Those undertaking unarmed assaults were significantly less likely to display online learning. The results also suggested that extreme‐right‐wing individuals who perpetrated an IED attack, associated with a wider network, attempted to recruit others, and engaged in nonvirtual network activities and nonvirtual place interactions were significantly more likely to communicate online with co‐ideologues.Policy ImplicationsCollectively the results provide insight into violent radicalization as a whole and not just into violent online radicalization. The results also largely confirm the results found in von Behr, Reding, Edwards, and Gribbon (2013) and in Gill and Corner (2015). The current study and the two previous studies have tackled these questions by using numerous methodological approaches and data sources and have arrived at similar conclusions. The Internet is largely a facilitative tool that affords greater opportunities for violent radicalization and attack planning. Nevertheless, radicalization and attack planning are not dependent on the Internet, and policy needs to look at behavior, intentions, and capabilities and not just at beliefs. From a risk assessment perspective, the study also highlights the fact that there is no easy offline versus online violent radicalization dichotomy to be drawn. It may be a false dichotomy. Plotters regularly engage in activities in both domains. Often their behaviors are compartmentalized across these two domains. Threat management policies would do well to understand the individuals’ breadth of interactions rather than relying on a dichotomous understanding of offline versus online, which represent two extremes of a spectrum that regularly provide prototypical examples in reality. A preoccupation with only checking online behaviors may lead an intelligence analyst to miss crucial face‐to‐face components of a plot's technical development or a perpetrator's motivation. Policy and practice may benefit from adopting insights from emerging research arguing in favor of disaggregating our conception of the “terrorist” into discrete groups (e.g., foreign fighters vs. homegrown fighters, bomb‐makers vs. bomb‐planters, and group‐actors vs. lone‐actors; Gill and Corner, 2013; LaFree, 2013) rather than disaggregating the radicalization process into discrete groups (e.g., online radicalization and prison radicalization). We need to understand the drives, needs, and forms of behavior that led to the radicalization and attack planning and why the offender chose that environment rather than purely looking at the affordances the environment produced. By looking at the Internet as an affordance opportunity that some forms of terrorist or terrorist violence require more than others do, the focus is shifted from the radicalization process toward an understanding of how crimes are committed. In other words, we are looking at crime events rather than at the underlying dispositions behind the criminality.

Counterterrorism Killings and Provisional IRA Bombings, 1970–1998

Counterterrorism strategies involving the killing of terrorists are a prominently used but controversial practice. Proponents argue that such strategies are useful tools for reducing terrorist activity, while critics question their effectiveness. This article provides empirical insight into this strategy by conducting a series of negative binomial regression and Tobit estimations of the impact of killing Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) terrorists as well as members of the Catholic community on counts of PIRA bombings and targeting activity in Northern Ireland for the period 1970–1998. We consider the impact of discriminate and indiscriminate killings (where only PIRA militants are killed versus those in which both militants and civilians are also killed) on subsequent PIRA improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. Our findings illustrate that while total and discriminate counterterrorism killings have little to no effect on PIRA IED attacks, indiscriminate counterterrorism killings increased PIRA bombings overall and prompted the Provisional IRA to specifically target civilians in IED events. We conclude by discussing the scholarly and policy implications of these findings.

Reconstruction of improvised explosive device blast loading to personnel in the open

Significant advances in reconstructing attacks by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other blast events are reported. A high-fidelity three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics tool, called Second-order Hydrodynamic Automatic Mesh Refinement Code, was used for the analysis. Computer-aided design models for subjects or vehicles in the scene accurately represent geometries of objects in the blast field. A wide range of scenario types and blast exposure levels were reconstructed including free field blast, enclosed space of vehicle cabin, IED attack on a vehicle, buried charges, recoilless rifle operation, rocket-propelled grenade attack and missile attack with single subject or multiple subject exposure to pressure levels from \(\sim \)27.6 kPa (\(\sim \)4 psi) to greater than 690 kPa (\(>\)100 psi). To create a full 3D pressure time-resolved reconstruction of a blast event for injury and blast exposure analysis, a combination of intelligence data and Blast Gauge data can be used to reconstruct an actual in-theatre blast event. The methodology to reconstruct an event and the “lessons learned” from multiple reconstructions in open space are presented. The analysis uses records of blast pressure at discrete points, and the output is a spatial and temporal blast load distribution for all personnel involved.

The Economics of Roadside Bombs

The U.S. military, despite spending over $13 billion, appears powerless to stop the Iraqi insurgency's improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which cause most of the military's casualties and prevent victory by showing lawlessness and insecurity. However, this view ignores substitution effects we consider here. Using rational choice and expectations models, we find a backward-bending supply curve of attacks-- insurgents increase the resources for IED attacks when IEDs are made less effective, but must therefore reduce non-IED attacks 2% for every 1% decrease in IED effectiveness. The success of the counter-IED effort has thus been significantly underestimated.

Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Improvised Explosive Device Attacks That Cause Significant Building Damage

AbstractMost vulnerability assessments assume that an improvised explosive device (IED) will reach maximum TNT equivalency, and that the IED will successfully detonate. These assumptions will tend to overestimate actual blast-load effects. The paper develops an IED probabilistic risk-assessment model using a systems model for IED attacks based on the reliability of IEDs and by characterizing the human aspects of an IED attack’s operational effectiveness from existing databases of terrorist incidents. The analysis includes estimates of the probability of threat, hazard, and loss for large commercial buildings in the United States. It was found that annual fatality risk for building occupants is similar to acceptable risk criteria. This suggests that strengthening buildings against progressive collapse may not be warranted unless there is a specific threat against a building.

Temporal Changes in Combat Casualties From Afghanistan by Nationality: 2006–2010

This study sought to evaluate temporal changes in combat deaths and improvised explosive device (IED)-related fatalities among three coalition allies in Afghanistan: the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The website icasualties.org was used to identify American, Canadian, and British soldiers killed in combat in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2010. Population-at-risk was determined as the number of personnel serving within the Afghanistan theater for each coalition nation. Unadjusted incidence rates of combat deaths per deployed personnel, and IED deaths as a portion of total combat deaths, were derived and adjusted comparisons performed to control for confounders. Between 2006 and 2010, 1,673 combat deaths occurred in a population of 721,520 soldiers. Fifty percent of all combat deaths occurred as a result of IED attack. British personnel maintained the highest unadjusted risks of combat-related death, as well as IED-associated mortality. As compared to Americans, Canadian personnel were at a significantly increased risk of combat-related death and IED-related fatality. Among Americans, there was a significant reduction in IED-related deaths between 2010 and 2009. For Canadians, no significant change in IED fatalities as compared to total number of troops, or total combat deaths, was appreciated at any point in the study.

Medical Costs of War in 2035: Long-Term Care Challenges for Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan

War-related medical costs for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan may be enormous because of differences between these wars and previous conflicts: (1) Many veterans survive injuries that would have killed them in past wars, and (2) improvised explosive device attacks have caused "polytraumatic" injuries (multiple amputations; brain injury; severe facial trauma or blindness) that require decades of costly rehabilitation. In 2035, today's veterans will be middle-aged, with health issues like those seen in aging Vietnam veterans, complicated by comorbidities of posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and polytrauma. This article cites emerging knowledge about best practices that have demonstrated cost-effectiveness in mitigating the medical costs of war. We propose that clinicians employ early interventions (trauma care, physical therapy, early post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis) and preventive health programs (smoking cessation, alcohol-abuse counseling, weight control, stress reduction) to treat primary medical conditions now so that we can avoid treating costly secondary and tertiary complications in 2035. (We should help an amputee reduce his cholesterol and maintain his weight at age 30, rather than treating his heart disease or diabetes at age 50.) Appropriate early interventions for primary illness should preserve veterans' functional status, ensure quality clinical care, and reduce the potentially enormous cost burden of their future health care.

Adversarial Geospatial Abduction Problems

Geospatial Abduction Problems (GAPs) involve the inference of a set of locations that “best explain” a given set of locations of observations. For example, the observations might include locations where a serial killer committed murders or where insurgents carried out Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks. In both these cases, we would like to infer a set of locations that explain the observations, for example, the set of locations where the serial killer lives/works, and the set of locations where insurgents locate weapons caches. However, unlike all past work on abduction, there is a strong adversarial component to this; an adversary actively attempts to prevent us from discovering such locations. We formalize such abduction problems as a two-player game where both players (an “agent” and an “adversary”) use a probabilistic model of their opponent (i.e., a mixed strategy). There is asymmetry as the adversary can choose both the locations of the observations and the locations of the explanation, while the agent (i.e., us) tries to discover these. In this article, we study the problem from the point of view of both players. We define reward functions axiomatically to capture the similarity between two sets of explanations (one corresponding to the locations chosen by the adversary, one guessed by the agent). Many different reward functions can satisfy our axioms. We then formalize the Optimal Adversary Strategy (OAS) problem and the Maximal Counter-Adversary strategy (MCA) and show that both are NP-hard, that their associated counting complexity problems are #P-hard, and that MCA has no fully polynomial approximation scheme unless P=NP. We show that approximation guarantees are possible for MCA when the reward function satisfies two simple properties (zero-starting and monotonicity) which many natural reward functions satisfy. We develop a mixed integer linear programming algorithm to solve OAS and two algorithms to (approximately) compute MCA; the algorithms yield different approximation guarantees and one algorithm assumes a monotonic reward function. Our experiments use real data about IED attacks over a 21-month period in Baghdad. We are able to show that both the MCA algorithms work well in practice; while MCA-GREEDY-MONO is both highly accurate and slightly faster than MCA-LS, MCA-LS (to our surprise) always completely and correctly maximized the expected benefit to the agent while running in an acceptable time period.

Types of injuries among Polish soldiers and civilian staff in the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th rotation of the Afghan stabilization mission

SummaryBackgroundThe Afghan military theatre is specifically marked by guerilla operations and massive use of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that pose new types of threats for their victims. At the same time, the relevant literature contains only a single, fragmentary analysis on injuries suffered by soldiers serving in the Afghan mission.Material/MethodsThis is a review of medical reports of the Polish Military Contingent deployed within Operation Enduring Freedom, from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2011; the analysis includes all cases of combat and non-combat injuries in terms of their causes.ResultsIn the period under analysis, 380 Polish soldiers were reported injured; 87.1% of cases were combat and 12.9% non-combat injuries. The structure of injuries caused as a result of IED explosions was dominated by multiple limb injuries, associated most frequently with severe body cavities/spine injuries. In the case of other incidents, both combat and non-combat, the predominant consequences were single and, most commonly, less severe injuries. The average number of injuries suffered from IED attacks (3.37) was significantly higher than the number of injuries from other attacks (1.16), and higher than the number of non-combat injuries (1.43).ConclusionsIED attacks pose a serious medical problem, considering their high number and the severity of injuries they cause.

A systems model for probabilistic risk assessment of improvised explosive device attacks

Due to their improvised nature, the variability in the design, manufacture and operation of most improvised explosive devices (IEDs) defy the traditional paradigms used to assess the effectiveness of conventional munitions. Thus, IEDs are complex socio-technical systems to model. To compensate for inadequacies in model design or data deficiencies, expert judgement and subjective probability assignments are often employed. The paper aims to reduce this reliance by developing an IED probabilistic risk assessment model using a systems model for IED attacks based on IED device reliability and characterising the human aspects of IED attack operational effectiveness from existing terrorism databases. This model can then be used to develop an automated model for IED probabilistic risk assessment that can be used towards informing military applications such as operations planning and war-gaming, and civil applications such as security risk management (including event planning), protective construction requirements, and insurance assessments. It was found that the risk of loss (fatalities, property damage) is influenced more by operational aspects (such as target selection, IED placement and attack timing) than the technical aspects of the device design and manufacture.

Analysis of the causes of medical evacuation of injured and sick soldiers of the Polish Military Contingent in the Islamic State of Afghanistan taking part in International Security Assistance Force operations

Military casualties in Afghanistan arise in part from climatic and natural conditions that are difficult for European soldiers to endure, as well as from intense guerrilla combat with mass use of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), thus posing numerous and diverse medical problems requiring evacuation to the home country. A search of the literature revealed no comprehensive studies of the causes of medical evacuation from this theater of operations. This article is a review of medical reports of the Polish Military Contingent taking part in Operation Enduring Freedom during the period from 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2011, including an analysis of causes of all ROLE 4 medical evacuations (to the military base in Germany or to the home country). As many as 565 (5.49%) of the total of 10 294 contingent soldiers were evacuated during the analyzed period. Of these, 29% of evacuation cases were due to combat injuries, 23% to complications of respiratory tract infection, 11% to mental health problems, 11% to chronic neuralgias, 12% to complications of acute gastrointestinal infections, 4% to non-combat injuries, 3% to dental and maxillofacial problems, 2% to dermatological problems and 2% to leishmaniasis. The remaining causes included chronic organic/systemic diseases manifested during service. The main causes of medical evacuations to the home country were the consequences of combat injuries, mainly due to IED attacks. Appropriate diagnosis and early treatment of infections is also an important problem in the face of a significant number of complications resulting in evacuation of soldiers to their home country.