Source:
The GuardianBritish troops struggle against plant that hides insurgents and their homemade bombs
Corn on the cob has emerged as the latest deadly threat to British troops engaged in foot patrols around the sweaty farmlands of the Helmand river valley.The towering maize plants that can grow to 2.5m (8ft) high have proved to be the perfect shield for insurgents to hide behind when they bury homemade bombs near Forward Operating Base Keenan.
Now Major Olly Brown, the base's commanding officer, is doing everything he can to persuade farmers not to grow it anymore, establishing a crop substitution campaign which offers seeds to grow watermelon, green peas or saffron instead.
It is an irony not lost on the men that, in an area where little else is grown apart from opium poppies, one of the few legal crops favoured by farmers is being singled out for replacement. But for Brown, who commands 120 British soldiers at Keenan, the war on drugs is on hold as he concentrates on pushing insurgents out of agricultural settlements in his area and protecting his men from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Technology to detect IEDs and prevent the radio-controlled variety from exploding has improved, but Taliban bomb makers have also raised their game, manufacturing "no-metal" devices on which only the detonating battery shows up on a metal detector. In the last month they have found a way to do away with the battery entirely, with a wooden bomb that uses a chemical reaction to detonate the charge. Metal detectors are useless and the devices can only be found by looking for disturbances in the soil. Nonetheless Brown is pleased with the relatively limited damage the IEDs have done to his company.
more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/13/afghanistan-deadliest-crop-corn-not-opium
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