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Last update - 13:44 25/10/2009
Is Taliban helping Gaza militants make deadlier roadside bombs?
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel News, Gaza, Taliban 

Palestinian militants have significantly improved the effectiveness of roadside bombs they deploy against Israel Defense Forces soldiers along the Gaza border, tests conducted by the IDF have found.

The tests, which were carried out by the technology department of the IDF Ground Forces Command, revealed that the bombs were very similar to the improvised explosive devices used against U.S. and British forces by militants in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as the Taliban.

The army found that the assembly of the bombs had also significantly improved, and that they contained substances which had not been used before in such devices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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Among the substances discovered in the bombs was tungsten, a metal that can improve the ability of the devices to penetrate armored vehicles.

The IDF has consulted with representatives from the U.S. and British Army on the matter. A comparison of the devices deployed in the Palestinian territories and in Iraq and Afghanistan revealed similar methods of assembly.

"It is clear to us that these explosive devices came from the same school," a senior Ground Forces Command officer said.

The IDF believes that explosives experts who entered Gaza from Egypt through smuggling tunnels are responsible for the development of the bombs.

Since Israel's 3-week winter offensive against Hamas in Gaza, code-named Operation Cast Lead, most attempted attacks on Israel have been carried out by the Islamic Jihad militant group, as well as other organizations inspired by Al-Qaida.


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