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DUBLIN: Irish Terrorist bomb techniques perfected in Ireland by IRA engineers and electronics experts have spread to the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Irish Defence Force's unique know-how in dealing with the devices is being shared with peace-keeping forces there.
A senior Army Ordnance Corps officer has been appointed head of training in bomb-disposal techniques with the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force. One of seven Irish soldiers in Afghanistan, he is in charge of training the NATO-led forces and the Afghan National Army and police in dealing with the developing threat of improvised bombs.
Devices and bombing techniques almost identical to those used by the Provisional IRA in the North have reached Afghanistan via Al-Qaeda in Iraq who, in turn, learned the same techniques from other Middle Eastern terror groups such as the PLO and Hizbollah who trained with the IRA in Lebanon.
Among the techniques that have already been used in the war-torn region include the "proxy bomb", used to devastating effect in the North in October 1990 when a kidnapped catering worker, Patsy Gillespie, was forced to drive a van bomb to the British Army checkpoint on the Border outside Derry.
Since last year several "vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices" (VBIEDs) have been used in Afghanistan, having been used widely before in Iraq. In March this year one such bomb was detonated outside Jalalabad next to a convoy of US Embassy officials, injuring five officials. In January last year another such attack killed 21 civilians in Kandahar Province.
Until recently all such attacks have been simply defined as suicide bombings, but more recently the NATO forces have discovered that, as in the North, the drivers are often forced to transport the bombs after their families have been held hostage. They are deceived into thinking they simply have to park the vehicle and leave it to detonate but, instead, the bomb is detonated by remote control by bombers following in another car.
Another technique developed by the IRA that has spread half way across the World to Afghanistan is that used to kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, outside Warrenpoint in County Down, in August 1979. A "primary" landmine killed several soldiers in a passing lorry, then the bombers waited as medics and other soldiers moved in to their aid, detonating a second bomb hidden on the other side of the road. The same technique was passed on to Hizbollah who used it against the Israeli Defence Forces during the 1980s and 1990s. NATO forces have also found an increasing number of similarities in the bomb-making techniques of the Taliban who are trying to seize control of the troubled country and re-impose Sharia government.
The Army Ordnance Corps officer in charge of training both the NATO and Afghan National Army in countering these attacks warned last week that the tactics andtechnology being used by the Taliban was becoming even more deadly. "We'll see an increase in the technology," he told a training course in Kabul last week.
A Defence Forces spokesman said the army ordnance officer was one of eight Irish officers currently serving in Afghanistan. Ordnance officers are not named because of the sensitive, high-risk nature of their work.
A senior Army Ordnance Corps officer has been appointed head of training in bomb-disposal techniques with the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force. One of seven Irish soldiers in Afghanistan, he is in charge of training the NATO-led forces and the Afghan National Army and police in dealing with the developing threat of improvised bombs.
Devices and bombing techniques almost identical to those used by the Provisional IRA in the North have reached Afghanistan via Al-Qaeda in Iraq who, in turn, learned the same techniques from other Middle Eastern terror groups such as the PLO and Hizbollah who trained with the IRA in Lebanon.
Among the techniques that have already been used in the war-torn region include the "proxy bomb", used to devastating effect in the North in October 1990 when a kidnapped catering worker, Patsy Gillespie, was forced to drive a van bomb to the British Army checkpoint on the Border outside Derry.
Since last year several "vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices" (VBIEDs) have been used in Afghanistan, having been used widely before in Iraq. In March this year one such bomb was detonated outside Jalalabad next to a convoy of US Embassy officials, injuring five officials. In January last year another such attack killed 21 civilians in Kandahar Province.
Until recently all such attacks have been simply defined as suicide bombings, but more recently the NATO forces have discovered that, as in the North, the drivers are often forced to transport the bombs after their families have been held hostage. They are deceived into thinking they simply have to park the vehicle and leave it to detonate but, instead, the bomb is detonated by remote control by bombers following in another car.
Another technique developed by the IRA that has spread half way across the World to Afghanistan is that used to kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, outside Warrenpoint in County Down, in August 1979. A "primary" landmine killed several soldiers in a passing lorry, then the bombers waited as medics and other soldiers moved in to their aid, detonating a second bomb hidden on the other side of the road. The same technique was passed on to Hizbollah who used it against the Israeli Defence Forces during the 1980s and 1990s. NATO forces have also found an increasing number of similarities in the bomb-making techniques of the Taliban who are trying to seize control of the troubled country and re-impose Sharia government.
The Army Ordnance Corps officer in charge of training both the NATO and Afghan National Army in countering these attacks warned last week that the tactics andtechnology being used by the Taliban was becoming even more deadly. "We'll see an increase in the technology," he told a training course in Kabul last week.
A Defence Forces spokesman said the army ordnance officer was one of eight Irish officers currently serving in Afghanistan. Ordnance officers are not named because of the sensitive, high-risk nature of their work.
