In some cases, IEDs are used to distract, disrupt, or delay an opposing force, facilitating another type of attack. X-ray of a suitcase showing a pipe bomb and a laptopĪn IED is a bomb fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy or incapacitate personnel or vehicles. ( April 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. IEDs were also used frequently by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan Civil War, and by Ambazonian separatists in the ongoing Anglophone Crisis.

They were also used in Afghanistan by insurgent groups, and caused over 66% of coalition casualties in the 2001–2021 Afghanistan War. In the Iraq War (2003–2011), insurgents used IEDs extensively against U.S.-led forces and, by the end of 2007, IEDs were responsible for approximately 63% of coalition deaths in Iraq. IEDs are generally utilized in terrorist operations or in asymmetric unconventional warfare by insurgent guerrillas or commando forces in a theatre of operations. The term 'IED' was coined by the British Army during the Northern Ireland conflict to refer to booby traps made by the IRA, and entered common use in the U.S. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs, or homemade bombs.

It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechanism.

An improvised explosive device ( IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action.

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