G.I. Toll Is Rising as Insurgents Try Wilier Bombs and Tactics

[kskiska]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 14 — Insurgent bombmakers, whose roadside explosives claimed the lives of six more American soldiers this weekend, have adopted new and grimly devious tactics, military officers said Sunday.

The tactics include setting multiple charges along convoy routes, disguising bombs inside animal carcasses and planting hollow artillery shells to draw troops into an ambush, they said.

One American soldier was killed early Sunday when his convoy west of Baghdad was blasted by a roadside explosive. Three soldiers died Saturday when their patrol in southeast Baghdad also fell victim to a homemade bomb.

Those deaths, announced by a military spokesman on Sunday, followed an attack on Saturday with an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire in Tikrit that left two soldiers dead.

Explaining the number of deaths this weekend from improvised explosive devices, military officers in Iraq said the lethality and effectiveness of those weapons had intensified.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/international/middleeast/15IRAQ.html?hp

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. It's a nightmare...and we're wide awake.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Not that Bremer is too concerned

Seeing as from what I have read, his ass is always convoyed around in an armored SUV while its just the cannon fodder that are left to ride around in their unarmored tin can hummers.

[teryang]

3. I sense a certain amount of respect

...for the effectiveness of the guerilla opposition in the Times report. They're using P3s? What happened to the much vaunted UAVs? As wars plod on, the economic, tried and true technology reasserts its preeminence over whiz bang gee whiz contractor gizmos.

I'm not too sanguine about overcoming this low tech bomb threat.