WASHINGTON, Aug 3: Guerillas are using more powerful, armour penetrating bombs in attacks like those this week that killed 21 US marines in western Iraq, a US general said on Wednesday. It was unclear what kind of device was used to kill 14 marines and an interpreter in an armoured amphibious assault vehicle in Haditha on Wednesday.
But Brig Gen Carter Ham of the US Joint Staff said guerillas had adapted to increased armour protection on US military vehicles by changing techniques and building more lethal bombs. The changing guerilla techniques have proven a challenge for US forces, he said.
“We are seeing larger amounts of explosives,” Gen Ham said.
“We are seeing different techniques that are being used in an effort to counter the efforts of coalition and Iraqi security forces to protect folks while they are moving — different types of penetrators, different techniques of triggering the events.”
“I mean, again, this is a very brutal, lethal and adaptive enemy,” he said. The marines killed in Wednesday’s attack were in an amphibious assault vehicle, which carries less armour protection than a tank, he said.
They were in the same area where six marine snipers were ambushed and killed on Monday, he said. In that attack, the marines were dismounted, apparently moving on foot through Haditha, when they were killed. One of their bodies was found some distance away.
“This was a unit that was properly prepared, trained and equipped for their operation. They came under attack and, as we know today, the six US Marines were killed in that attack,” he said.
Gen Carter Ham shed little light on their deaths, saying the incident was under investigation.—AFP
