Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Army official: EFPs in Sunni hands

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army colonel in Baghdad said 15 to 20 percent of the improvised explosive devices targeting his troops are sophisticated explosively formed projectiles. The U.S. military links explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, to Iran. The weapons, which form slugs out of molten metal shot at passing vehicles, are more effective at penetrating armored vehicles than the relatively crude bombs made of linked artillery shells common across Iraq. According to U.S. military intelligence, the construction of EFPs requires precise machining and sophisticated engineering and those found in Iraq bear the hallmarks of Iranian manufacturing. The EFPs first showed up in attacks Iraq in 2005 in British-patrolled Maysan province, a predominantly Shiite area closely associated with Iran. The bombs have since turned up migrated in Baghdad and points farther north. Col. Ricky Gibbs, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division, told Pentagon reporters Friday he believed the EFPs are being employed not by Shiite militias known to be associated with Iran but by Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaida in Iraq. "What I'm seeing in my area is, they're predominantly al-Qaida," Gibbs said. His unit is operating in southern Baghdad in an area active with insurgents, both Sunni and Shiite. On Thursday night alone one of his units found and dismantled 26 IEDs in a single neighborhood. Since early May, Gibbs' unit, three Iraqi army and police brigades and the U.S. Army's 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have been conducting an offensive operation in the Rashid district. "We've captured 245 small arms and rocket-propelled grenade systems. We captured four complete mortar systems of various calibers, another 397 explosive munitions, destroyed three car bombs and more than 150 completed improvised explosive devices and enough components to make about 3,000 more IEDs," Gibbs said.