Sharp senses, and a little luck, kept the bomb in that hole from killing anyone.
All Things Considered producer Graham Smith is on assignment in Afghanistan. This past summer, he sent us some dispatches when he was embedded with Marines there. Once again, he's been out with Marines as they patrol the countryside. Here's what he tells us about the deadly explosives the Americans are encountering — and one engineer's close call:
The IEDs themselves are what they call HME or Home Made Explosives. It's basically a fertilizer bomb, like what was used in Oklahoma City, but smaller — 30 to 90 pounds is the norm here although a 1,500 pound HME bomb killed four Americans last week in Kandahar. The diesel and fertilizer is mixed and packed inside 3 gallon plastic oil jugs or metal cylinders made from sections of street lamp poles. Sometimes, it's packed inside hollowed out old mortar rounds or artillery shells.
One that was found yesterday was a little different. It was a mixture called "anal" — some kind of aluminum-based explosive that looks like Silver Surfer poo. When the Marines blew it up, not all of the bomb detonated, because it had been contaminated with water as it was put in place. The crater was filled with the silvery goo, and also various chunks of metal that had been packed into the bomb to create more shrapnel: A length of bicycle chain; a pedal crank; some empty shell casings.
That particular bomb had been found by one of the engineers by accident. He'd already swept the area, and was moving on when he noticed the ground had some give under his foot. He was standing on top of a pressure plate - a crude trigger buried under the earth. Luckily, the bomb hadn't been armed with a battery, or he'd likely have lost a leg at the least. More likely, he'd have been dead. Luck counts too.
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