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'Sticky Bomb' New Trend In Iraq Violence

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The New York Times

Published: November 14, 2008

BAGHDAD - They are usually no bigger than a man's fist and attached to a magnet or a strip of gummy adhesive - thus the name "obwah lasica" in Arabic, or "sticky bomb."

Light, portable and easy to lay, sticky bombs are tucked quickly under the bumper of a car or into a chink in a blast wall. Since they are detonated remotely, they rarely harm the person who lays them. As security in Baghdad has improved, the small and furtive bomb, although less lethal than entire cars or even thick suicide belts packed with explosive, is fast becoming the device of choice for a range of insurgent groups.

They are also contributing, in the midst of an uptick in violence, to a growing feeling of unease in the capital.

"You take a bit of C4 or some other type of compound," said Lt. Col. Steven Stover, spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad. "You can go into a hardware store, take the explosive and combine it with an accelerant, put some glass or marble or bits of metal in front of it and you've basically got a homemade Claymore," a common anti-personnel mine.

Sticky bombs are not an Iraqi innovation. "Limpet mines" were attached to the sides of ships during World War II, and magnetic booby traps were used during the conflict in Northern Ireland. Magnetic IEDs, or improvised explosive device, were first used in Iraq in late 2004 or early in 2005, according to the American military.

Sticky bombs have become steadily more common since the start of this year, from an average of two explosions a week caused by them this spring, to about five a week more recently, Stover said.

Iraq's Interior Ministry said sticky bombs killed three people and wounded 18 in Baghdad in July. In October, nine people were killed and 46 more were injured by sticky bombs.

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