Obwah Lasica

Arabic term for “sticky bomb” - an explosive device attached to a magnet or strip of adhesive.

According to The New York Times, the use of obwah lasica in Iraq has increased significantly since the beginning of 2008:

The small and furtive bomb – though less lethal than entire cars or even thick suicide belts packed with explosive – is fast becoming the device of choice for a range of insurgent groups.

The Times quoted Lt. Col. Steven Stover, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad, who said:

You take a bit of C4 or some other type of compound. … You can go into a hardware store, take the explosive and combine it with an accelerant, put some glass or marble or bits of metal in front of it and you’ve basically got a homemade Claymore.

Ironically, as the security situation in Iraq improves, the threat from obwah lasica has intensified. According to Iraq’s Interior Ministry, in October 2008, 9 people were killed and 46 more were injured by obwah lasicadevices.