Everything you ever wanted to know about car bombs, but were afraid to ask

Hugo Kamaan has produced an in-depth report for the Middle East Institute titled "Car Bombs As Weapons Of War - ISIS's development of SVBIEDs, 2014-19".  The link is to an Adobe Acrobat document in .PDF format.  The executive summary reads:

The suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (SVBIED) has been one of ISIS’s most powerful and versatile weapons. The group consistently adapted the SVBIED design based on operational environment and other factors, with modifications in armor, payload organization, color, and detonation technology. Advanced SVBIED designs have been distributed between many ISIS provinces, not only within Iraq and Syria, but also globally to provinces in Nigeria and the Philippines. ISIS’s research and development of SVBIED technology presents a continued threat, even after the collapse of the territorial caliphate, due to the group’s ability to export its designs and enable nascent ISIS provinces to launch powerful attacks on unsuspecting communities globally.

There's much more at the link.

Suicide bombers aboard armored vehicles, able to approach their targets despite counter-vehicle fire, have been a deadly weapon in ISIS' arsenal over the years.  The report provides many details and images of their vehicles and the attacks in which they were used.  It's probably a very useful central reference point for countries to which ISIS terrorists are returning, after being driven out of Syria and/or Iraq.  I daresay those countries may soon experience the same sorts of car-bombing that the Middle East has had to endure for the past several years.  They're already facing terrorist bombings inspired by the same source (for example, the church bombings in Sri Lanka earlier this year).

YouTube has many videos of SVBIED's in action in Iraq.  Here are a couple of examples.

There are many more at the link.

The report makes for informative reading.  Recommended.

Peter