VEHICLE-BORNE IEDS (VBIEDs) & UNDER-VEHICLE IEDs (UVIEDs)

The first “car bomb” was detonated by anarchist Victor Buda in 1920 in New York’s financial district. It killed 40 people and injured 400 others.

Since then, car bombs (now, more properly called Vehicle-Borne IEDs, or VBIEDs) have been used throughout the Middle East (Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, for example); in Afghanistan, India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, former Yugoslavia, Spain, Russian Republics, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia—to name only some.

VBIEDs can take several forms: A suicide bomber wearing an IED belt, vest or chest pack and driving a vehicle to a target location; a suicide bomber wearing these devices, who enters a passenger bus driving through a city; a driver of a car or tuck whose seats and cargo areas are loaded with high explosives that may be detonated by the driver, or remotely (via cell phone, for example) by his handler who is watching from a distance; a vehicle loaded with high explosives and a timing device, that is parked in a location with a lot of people—or symbolic high-importance target like a police station or army barracks—and then is abandoned by the driver.

Vehicles may have extensive modifications made to their structure, creating secret hidden compartments to conceal explosives and IEDs. Thus the vehicle will pass a cursory police or military screening at a checkpoint and be allowed to proceed, still carrying the undetected explosive cache, or IED.

Some vehicle IEDs may not be driven by a suicide bomber or terrorist. In fact the vehicle is a target, along with its driver or passenger(s) who may be VIPs. So explosives with a detonating device may be magnetically attached under the vehicle, hidden under the seats or floor mats, in the trunk, in the wheel well(s), inserted through the exhaust pipe into the muffler, or be placed under the hood—all possible if the bomber has the opportunity to clandestinely access these parts of the vehicle.

Some vehicles, such as cement trucks and garbage trucks have been extensively modified to become giant moving IEDs, or mobile rocket launchers. This has been done in Iraq and Gaza.

Securesearch, Inc. manufactures a variety of IED training aids, bulk explosive simulants (such as bags of simulated Ammonium nitrate, Bulk simulated C4, crates of inert dynamite, etc.), and magnetically-attachable devices essential for training. We can custom-make devices for you.