Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/military-grapples-with-onslaught-of-homemade-bombs-in-iraq Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The military reported Thursday that 14 U.S. troops in Iraq were killed, including five by a roadside bomb. Military experts and journalists discuss efforts to counter these improvised explosive devices. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. RAY SUAREZ: A U.S. and Iraqi joint operation continued today north of Baghdad in the insurgent stronghold of Diyala province. It's called Operation Arrowhead Ripper. One target of the sweep: the bomb-making factories that supply the raw materials for the daily carnage on the streets of Baghdad and beyond.Eleven of the 14 Americans killed over the last two days fell victim to what has become the weapon of choice for Iraq's various insurgent groups: the improvised explosive device, or IED. The homemade bombs have become the scourge of American forces in Iraq and a key tactical advantage for the insurgency.This month alone, 75 percent of U.S. deaths in Iraq — 51 of 68 — were caused by IEDs; that's according to the online database iCasualties.org. Since the war began, 40 percent of the more than 3,500 U.S. dead have been killed by the bombs, with the majority coming since May 2005.Today, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff commented on the IED attacks.PETER PACE, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: The kinds of IEDs that happened yesterday, where we lost five soldiers in one attack and four in another, those are the kinds of attacks that our enemy would like to impose on us. RAY SUAREZ: In the hope of cutting casualties, the American military created an IED task force in 2003 to combat the threat. It's since grown to an organization spending than $4 billion to devise tactics, armaments and technological means to defeat the bombs. It's called the Joint IED Defeat Organization. It's known by its acronym, JIEDDO.Earlier this year, the U.S. military revealed a new and more powerful version of the IED, called an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, was now being used in Iraq. American officials say the weapons are being made in Iran. The device can defeat the defenses on the most heavily armored U.S. vehicles, including the 60-ton Abrams tank. It blasts a molten projectile with immense force through its target.