.Mexican Cartels Using IEDs
AUSTIN - The Mexican military seized improvised explosive devices just miles from the Valley. The IEDs (or roadside bombs) are the same weapons terrorists use in the Middle East.
The homemade explosives can be sophisticated or crude. They're often deadly. They've killed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS learned the weapons are also in the hands of the drug cartels in Mexico.
On March 30, more than 50 cartel members attacked the Mexican military in Matamoros and Reynosa. Eighteen people died.
Soldiers seized 50 rifles, 60 hand grenades, and eight IEDs.
"The seizure of the IEDs is definitely worrisome," says a Latin American tactical analyst for STRATFOR, a private intelligence agency.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS traveled to Austin to meet with the analyst. We concealed his identity for security reasons.
"The construction of the devices that we've seen are similar to crude devices that are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq," he tells us.
He says the IEDs used in Matamoros and Reynosa were mining grade explosives.
"As you're experimenting with the craft of bomb making, there's going to be a learning curve to it," explains the analyst.
That means cartel bomb makers are getting more advanced.
The STRATFOR analyst says, "We've never seen them actually construct a device up until recently."
The Mexican military disabled an IED in Oaxaca, Mexico in February. Another IED blew up in Nuevo Leon last month.
"The blast is going to have a much larger effect than a single rifle round," the analyst tells us.
We're told the danger is real.
"Once again, the risk of collateral damage - being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time," explains the STRATFOR analyst.
STRATFOR says the cartels are making more IEDs everyday. Right now, experts don't think they'll try to use them here in the U.S. But they're not ruling anything out.
People who have live and work in Mexico say the IEDs are just one more thing to worry about. They tell us it already feels like they're living in a war zone.
They say they never know if they'll encounter a shootout or even a roadside bomb.
The people we spoke to add they're worried about the future and what will be left behind for their children, after the cartel war
KRGV
The homemade explosives can be sophisticated or crude. They're often deadly. They've killed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS learned the weapons are also in the hands of the drug cartels in Mexico.
On March 30, more than 50 cartel members attacked the Mexican military in Matamoros and Reynosa. Eighteen people died.
Soldiers seized 50 rifles, 60 hand grenades, and eight IEDs.
"The seizure of the IEDs is definitely worrisome," says a Latin American tactical analyst for STRATFOR, a private intelligence agency.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS traveled to Austin to meet with the analyst. We concealed his identity for security reasons.
"The construction of the devices that we've seen are similar to crude devices that are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq," he tells us.
He says the IEDs used in Matamoros and Reynosa were mining grade explosives.
"As you're experimenting with the craft of bomb making, there's going to be a learning curve to it," explains the analyst.
That means cartel bomb makers are getting more advanced.
The STRATFOR analyst says, "We've never seen them actually construct a device up until recently."
The Mexican military disabled an IED in Oaxaca, Mexico in February. Another IED blew up in Nuevo Leon last month.
"The blast is going to have a much larger effect than a single rifle round," the analyst tells us.
We're told the danger is real.
"Once again, the risk of collateral damage - being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time," explains the STRATFOR analyst.
STRATFOR says the cartels are making more IEDs everyday. Right now, experts don't think they'll try to use them here in the U.S. But they're not ruling anything out.
People who have live and work in Mexico say the IEDs are just one more thing to worry about. They tell us it already feels like they're living in a war zone.
They say they never know if they'll encounter a shootout or even a roadside bomb.
The people we spoke to add they're worried about the future and what will be left behind for their children, after the cartel war
KRGV
posted by madtom at 10:30 PM
2 Comments:
Need to send someone over there to hold hands and make nice.
The US should spend millions rebuilding their mosques.
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