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{{short description|Improvised explosive device}}
{{otheruses2|Car bomb}}
{{terrorism}} {{other uses}}
]]]
A '''car bomb''' is an ] placed in a ] or other ] and then ]. It is commonly used as a weapon of ], ], or ], to kill the occupant(s) of the vehicle, people near the blast site, or to damage buildings or other property. Car bombs act as their own delivery mechanisms and can carry a relatively large amount of ] without attracting suspicion.
{{terrorism|expanded=methods}}
A '''car bomb''', '''bus bomb''', '''van bomb''', '''lorry bomb''', or '''truck bomb''', also known as a '''vehicle-borne improvised explosive device''' ('''VBIED'''),{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|pages=1−3}} is an ] designed to be detonated in an ] or other vehicles.


Car bombs can be roughly divided into two main categories: those used primarily to kill the occupants of the vehicle (often as an ]) and those used as a means to kill, injure or damage people and buildings outside the vehicle. The latter type may be parked (the vehicle disguising the bomb and allowing the bomber to get away), or the vehicle might be used to deliver the bomb (often as part of a ]).
The U.S. military and law enforcement agencies often call a car bomb a '''"VBIED",''' an acronym standing for '''"Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device",''' or '''"SVBIED"''' if it is used in a ].
{{TOC-left}}
== Usage ==


It is commonly used as a weapon of ] or ] to kill people near the blast site or to damage buildings or other property.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|2181845864}} |last1=Jha |first1=Rajshekhar |date=17 February 2019 |title=Why car bombs are worrying our forces |newspaper=The Economic Times }}</ref> Car bombs act as their own delivery mechanisms and can carry a relatively large amount of ] without attracting suspicion. In larger vehicles and trucks, weights of around {{convert|5000|lbs|kg}} or more have been used, for example, in the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Oklahoma City Bombing 20 Years Later |url=https://stories.fbi.gov/oklahoma-bombing/ |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=30 September 2023}}</ref> Car bombs are activated in a variety of ways, including opening the vehicle's doors, starting the engine, remote detonation, depressing the accelerator or brake pedals, or simply lighting a fuse or setting a timing device.<ref name="technology">{{cite book|title=Technology and terrorism|last=Wilkinson|first=Paul|author2=Christop Harman|publisher=Routledge|year=1993|isbn=0-7146-4552-4}}{{page needed|date=May 2024}}</ref> The gasoline in the vehicle's fuel tank may make the explosion of the bomb more powerful by dispersing and igniting the fuel.
===Assassination===
The earliest car bombs were intended for assassination. These were often wired to the car's ], to explode when the car was started. Ignition triggering is now rare, as it is easy to detect and hard to install &mdash; interfering with the circuitry is time-consuming and ]s can be triggered by drains on the car's electrical system. Also, the target may start the car remotely (inadvertently or otherwise), or the target may be a passenger a safe distance away when the car starts.


== History ==
It is now more common for assassination bombs to be affixed to the underside of the car then detonated remotely, by the car's motion or by other means. The bomb is exploded as the target approaches or starts the vehicle or, more commonly, after the vehicle begins to move, when the target is more likely to be inside. For this reason, security guards often check the underside of vehicles with a long mirror mounted on a pole.
] improvised wagon used in the 1920 ] is considered a prototype of the car bomb.<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb">{{cite book |doi=10.1525/9780520949454-011 |chapter=The First Car Bomb |title=Transforming Terror |date=2019 |last1=Davis |first1=Mike |pages=32–33 |isbn=978-0-520-94945-4 }}</ref>
] ] attacked by a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBID), ], ]]]
===Attacks===
The effectiveness of a car bomb is that an explosion detonated inside a car is momentarily contained. If the force of the explosion were to double each fraction of a second and the car were to contain the explosion for one second before its chassis gave way, this would result in a much greater force than if the detonation took place outside the car. Therefore a greater amount of damage is obtained from a given amount of explosive.


The first non-suicide car bombing "fully conceptualized as a weapon of urban warfare" came January 12, 1947 when ] (also known as Stern Gang), a ] paramilitary organization, ].<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb"/>
====Suicide bombing====
In recent years, car bombs have become widely used by ]s who seek to ram the car into a building and simultaneously detonate it.


In the fall of 2005, there were 140 car bombings happening per month.<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb"/>
====Countermeasures====


Car bombs are preceded by the 16th century ], explosive-laden ships which were used to deadly effect by the besieged ] forces in ] against the besieging ]. Though using a less refined technology, the basic principle of the hellburner is similar to that of the car bomb.{{according to whom|date=October 2024}}
Defending against a car bomb involves keeping vehicles at a distance from vulnerable targets by using ]s, concrete blocks or bollards, or by hardening buildings to withstand an explosion. Since the height of the ] (PIRA) campaign, the entrance to Downing Street has been closed, preventing the general public from getting near ]. Where major public roads pass near buildings, road closures may be the only option (thus, for instance, in ] the portion of ] immediately behind the ]) is closed to traffic). Historically these tactics have encouraged potential bombers to target "soft" or unprotected targets, such as markets.<ref>See Davis.</ref> The U.S. State Department has published a guide on car bomb awareness.<ref></ref>


Car bombs would start out with animals such as horses and cows, then it eventually emerged into a car.<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb"/>
==History==


The first reported suicide car bombing (and possibly the first suicide bombing) was the ] of 1927, where 45 people, including the bomber, were killed and half of a school was destroyed.{{according to whom|date=October 2024}}
It may be the first car bomb was the one used for the assassination attempt on Ottoman Sultan ] in 1905 in ] by ] separatists, in the command of ] ] ].


Mass-casualty suicide car bombings are predominantly associated with the Middle East, particularly in recent decades. A notable suicide car bombing was the ], when two simultaneous attacks killed 241 U.S. and 58 French peacekeepers. The perpetrator of these attacks has never been positively confirmed. In the ], an estimated 3,641 car bombs were detonated.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Atlas Group and Walid Raad - Cornerhouse<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.cornerhouse.org/books/info.aspx?ID=1835&page=0 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229221418/http://www.cornerhouse.org/books/info.aspx?ID=1835&page=0 |archive-date=29 December 2007 |access-date=12 December 2016}}</ref> The tactic was adopted by Palestinian militant groups such as ], ] and ],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-11 |title=Comprehensive Listing of Terrorism Victims in Israel |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/comprehensive-listing-of-terrorism-victims-in-israel |access-date=2024-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411061514/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/comprehensive-listing-of-terrorism-victims-in-israel |archive-date=2024-04-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-08 |title=Major Palestinian Terror Attacks Since Oslo |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/major-palestinian-terror-attacks-since-oslo |access-date=2024-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408192513/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/major-palestinian-terror-attacks-since-oslo |archive-date=2024-04-08 }}</ref> especially during the ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Mike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AT9bCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT29 |title=Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb |date=2017-01-17 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78478-665-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Cary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lAAjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT155 |title=Dreams Deferred: A Concise Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict & the Movement to Boycott Israel |date=2016-07-11 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-02518-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=75JKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zwMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6563,4859776 |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=news.google.com}}</ref>
In the past, groups to use car bombs included:


While not an adaptation of a people-carrying vehicle, the WW2 German ] remote control mine, shares many parallels with a vehicle-based ]. It approached a target (often a tank or another armoured vehicle) at some speed, and then exploded, destroying itself and the target. It was armoured so that it could not be destroyed en route. However, it was not driven by a person, instead operated by remote control from a safe distance.{{sfn|Lepage|2014|pages=164−166}}
*In 1920, when Italian anarchist ] parked his horse-drawn wagon filled with explosives and ] near the corner of Wall and Broad streets in ], directly across from ] Company. The explosion killed 40 and wounded 200.
]
], made up of a number of artillery shells concealed in the back of a pickup truck.]]


Prior to the 20th century, bombs planted in horse carts had been used in assassination plots, notably in the unsuccessful "]" attempt to kill ] on 24 December 1800.{{according to whom|date=October 2024}}
*In 1927, ] used a detonator to ignite ] and hundreds of ] of ] which he had secretly planted inside a school. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the ], and killing and injuring several others. In total, Kehoe killed 45 people and injured 58 making the ] the deadliest act of ] in a school in U.S. history.


The first car bomb may have been the one used for the assassination attempt on Ottoman Sultan ] in 1905 in ] by ] in the command of ] belonging to the ].{{according to whom|date=October 2024}}
]


Car bombing was a significant part of the ] (PIRA) campaign during ] in ]. ] is credited with introducing the car bomb to ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 2004 |title=1973 files reveal senior general's talks with IRA leader |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/jan/01/uk.northernireland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730021256/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/jan/01/uk.northernireland |archive-date=30 July 2018 |access-date=29 July 2018 |website=]}}</ref> Car bombs were also used by ] groups (for example, by the ] during the ]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Lewiston Daily Sun - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VQMgAAAAIBAJ&pg=6100,7970659 |website=news.google.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1969 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch69.htm#261269 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=February 2014 |url=https://comeheretome.com/2014/02/ |website=Come Here To Me!}}</ref>
] summary table illustrating the size and range of effectiveness of car bombs by vehicle type used]]
*In the late 1940s, the radical-Zionist ] used car and truck bombs against Palestinian and British targets as an attempt to end peace discussions;
*The ] guerrillas used them at the end of the ] and throughout the ];
*The ] used them at the end of the ];
*The ] used them to assassinate independent magistrates in the early 1960s;
*The ] (and its splinter groups) used them frequently during its ] during ] in ] and ].
* ] ] organisations in Northern Ireland such as the ] (UVF) and ] used car bombs against civilians in both ] and the ]. The events with the most casulties in ] occurred when the UVF detonated car bombs in ].<ref></ref>
*During the ], at a variety of training camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan;<ref>Davis, ch. 13, "Car-Bomb University"</ref>, the ] with the aid of the ] trained ] in the preparation of car bombs
*Agents of the Chilean intelligence agency ] were convicted of using car booms to assassinate ] and ], who were opponents of the regime of ]
*In the 1980s, the Latin American drug lord ] used vehicle bombs extensively against government forces and population centers in Latin America;
*In 1995, ] detonated a Ryder ] filled with an explosive mixture (]) in front of the ] in ] (see ])
*In the late 1990s and early 2000s, vehicular explosives were used by ] extremists against targets in Russia


PIRA Chief of Staff ] defines the car bomb as both a tactical and a strategic guerrilla warfare weapon. Strategically, it disrupts the ability of the enemy government to administer the country, and hits simultaneously at the core of its economic structure by means of massive destruction. From a tactical point of view, it ties down a large number of security forces and troops around the main urban areas of the region in conflict.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McStiofáin |first=Seán |title=Revolutionary in Ireland |publisher=G. Cremonesi |year=1975 |pages=243}}</ref>
Mass-casualty car bombing, and especially suicide car bombing, is currently a predominantly ]ern phenomenon. The tactic was first introduced to the region by the ], who used it extensively against Palestinian and British targets; it was subsequently taken up by Palestinian bombers as well.<ref>Davis, chapter 4, "Oranges for Jaffa".</ref>The tactic was widely used in the ] by the ] group ]. The most notable car bombing was the ], which killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French military personnel. In the ], an estimated 3,641 car bombs were detonated.<ref></ref>


==As a delivery system==
Groups that still use car bombs include:
]s concealed in the back of a ].]]
Car bombs are effective weapons as they are an easy way to transport a large number of explosives to the intended target. A car bomb also produces copious ], or flying debris, and secondary damage to bystanders and buildings. In recent years, car bombs have become widely used by suicide bombers.<ref>{{cite web|title=2015: an epidemic of suicide bombs {{!}} AOAV|url=http://aoav.org.uk/2015/2015-an-epidemic-of-suicide-bombs/|website=AOAV|publisher=Action on Armed Violence|date=10 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921195327/http://aoav.org.uk/2015/2015-an-epidemic-of-suicide-bombs/|archive-date=21 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Holly|first1=Williams|title=Reports of suicide car bombs, possible exposure to chemical weapons in Mosul fight|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicide-car-bombs-and-reports-of-possible-exposure-to-chemical-weapons-in-battle-for-mosul/|work=CBS News|date=March 5, 2017|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707025849/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicide-car-bombs-and-reports-of-possible-exposure-to-chemical-weapons-in-battle-for-mosul/|archive-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=David|first1=Enders|title=Car Bombs Have Become the Islamic State's Assault 'Weapon of Choice' {{!}} VICE News|url=https://news.vice.com/article/car-bombs-have-become-the-islamic-states-assault-weapon-of-choice|website=VICE News|date=23 June 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921193829/https://news.vice.com/article/car-bombs-have-become-the-islamic-states-assault-weapon-of-choice|archive-date=2017-09-21}}</ref>


===Countermeasures===
*Palestinian militant groups, against both military and civilian ] targets.
Defending against a car bomb involves keeping vehicles at a distance from vulnerable targets by using ]s and ]s, ]s, concrete blocks or ]s, ], or by hardening buildings to withstand an explosion. The entrance to ] in London has been closed since 1991 in reaction to the ] campaign, preventing the general public from getting near ]. Where major public roads pass near buildings, road closures may be the only option (thus, for instance, in ] the portion of ] immediately in front of the ] is closed to traffic). Historically these tactics have encouraged potential bombers to target ], such as markets.<ref>See Davis.{{full citation needed|date=May 2024}}</ref>
*], in ]'s long-running ].

*] (see esp. ])
===Suicide usage===
*The ]. Car bombs have become more frequent during the ]. An estimated 578 car bombs were detonated in Iraq between June 2003 and June 2006<ref></ref>.
In the ] and ], the car bomb concept was modified so that it could be driven and detonated by a driver but armoured to withstand incoming fire. The vehicle would be driven to its target area, in a similar fashion to a ] plane of ].{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|page=3}} These were known by the acronym SVBIED (from ''Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device'') or VBIEDs. This saw generally civilian cars with armour plating added, that would protect the car for as long as possible, so that it could reach its intended target.{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|page=3}} Cars were sometimes driven into enemy troop areas, or into incoming enemy columns.{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|page=4}} Most often, the SVBIEDs were used by ] against Government forces, but also used by Syrian rebels (] and ], especially the ]) against government troops.{{sfn|Kaaman|2020|pages=1−13}}

The vehicles have become more sophisticated, with armour plating on the vehicle, protected vision slits, armour plating over the wheels so they would withstand being shot at, and also in some cases, additional ] over the front of the vehicle designed to crush or destroy ]s such as those used on ].<ref>Trends Institution "Daeshis-armored-vehicle-borne IED" {{cite web |url=http://trendsinstitution.org/daeshis-armored-vehicle-borne-improvised-explosive-devices-avbieds-insurgent-use-and-terrorism-potentials/ |title=Daesh/IS Armored Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (AVBIEDs): Insurgent Use and Terrorism Potentials &#124; TRENDS |access-date=2016-10-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030002622/http://trendsinstitution.org/daeshis-armored-vehicle-borne-improvised-explosive-devices-avbieds-insurgent-use-and-terrorism-potentials/ |archive-date=2016-10-30 }}</ref>

] for ] purposes at ]]]
In some cases, trucks were also used as well as cars. They were sometimes used to start an assault. Generally, the vehicles had a large space that would contain very heavy explosives.{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|page=5}} In some cases, animal drawn carts with improvised explosive devices have been used, generally either mules or horses.{{sfn|Armistead|2013|pages=39−40}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barron |first1=James |title=After 1920 Blast, The Opposite Of 'Never Forget'; No Memorials on Wall St. For Attack That Killed 30 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/17/nyregion/after-1920-blast-opposite-never-forget-no-memorials-wall-st-for-attack-that.html |access-date=29 September 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=17 September 2003}}</ref> Tactically, a single vehicle may be used, or an initial "breakthrough" vehicle, then followed by another vehicle.{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|page=6}}

While many car bombs are disguised as ordinary vehicles,<ref>{{cite book | last = Olson | first = Dean | title = Tactical Counterterrorism the Law Enforcement Manual of Terrorism Prevention | publisher = Charles C Thomas | location = Springfield | year = 2012 | isbn = 9780398087234 }} </ref> some that are used against military forces have ] attached to prevent the driver from being shot when attacking a fortified outpost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-03/take-a-look-inside-a-car-bomb-made-by-islamic-state-militants/6997112|title=Take a look inside an armoured Islamic State car bomb|work=ABC News|date=2 December 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203094445/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-03/take-a-look-inside-a-car-bomb-made-by-islamic-state-militants/6997112|archive-date=2015-12-03}}</ref>

===Operation===
{{more citations needed|section=yes|date=January 2021}}
] officers view the post-blast remains of a ] after an explosive was detonated inside it during training.]]

Car bombs and detonators function in a diverse manner of ways and there are numerous variables in the operation and placement of the bomb within the vehicle. Earlier and less advanced car bombs were often wired to the car's ignition system, but this practice is now considered more laborious and less effective than other more recent methods, as it requires a greater amount of work for a system that can often be quite easily ]d. While it is more common nowadays for car bombs to be fixed ] to the underside of the car, underneath the passenger or driver's seat, or inside of the ], detonators triggered by the opening of the vehicle door or by pressure applied to the brakes or accelerating pedals are also used.<ref name="technology"/>

Bombs operating by the former method of fixation to the underside of the car more often than not make use of a device called a ]. A small tube made of glass or plastic, the tilt fuse is similar in operation to a ] or medical tablet tube. One end of the fuse will be filled with ], while the other open end is wired with the ends of an open circuit to an electrical firing system. When the tilt fuse moves or is jerked, the supply of mercury will flow to the top of the tube and close the circuit. Thus, as the vehicle goes through the regular bumping and dipping that comes with driving over a terrain, the circuit is completed, and the explosive is detonated.<ref name="technology"/>

Car bombs are effective as booby traps because they also leave very little evidence. When an explosion happens, it is difficult for forensics to find any evidence because things either denigrate or become charred.<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb"/>

As a safety mechanism to protect the bomber, the placer of the bomb may rig a ] incorporated with the circuit to activate the circuit only after a certain time period, therefore ensuring the bomber will not accidentally activate the bomb before they are able to get clear of the blast radius.<ref name="technology" />

Even though right now car bombs are supposed to be stealth weapons that cause a good deal of damage, it is feared that they can become bigger, more lethal weapons such as the size of a trailer, making huge explosions and causing plenty of damage.<ref name="Davis The First Car Bomb"/>

==Examples==
{{excessive examples|date=June 2021}}
{{main|List of mass car bombings}}

===20th century===
* 1920: The ] — Suspected that Italian anarchist ] (a member of the "]") parked a horse-drawn wagon filled with explosives and ] in the ] of ]. The blast killed 38 and wounded 143.
* 1927: The ] — ] used a detonator to ignite ] and hundreds of ] of ] which he had secretly planted inside a school. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the ], and killing and injuring several others. In total, Kehoe killed 44 people and injured 58 making the Bath School bombing the deadliest act of ] in a school in U.S. history. It is possibly the first ] in history.
* Militant group ] were the first group to use car bombs in the ] during the 1940s.
] car bombing aftermath scene in ], 1965.]]
* The ] guerrillas used them throughout the ] in the 1960s and 1970s.
* The ] used them at the end of the ] in 1961 and 1962.
* The ] used them to assassinate independent magistrates starting in the 1960s and up to the early 1990s.
* The ] used them frequently during its ] during ] in ] and England. The 1998 ] by the ], an IRA splinter group, caused the most casualties in ] from a single car bomb. ] organisations in Northern Ireland of the 1960s and 1970s such as the ] (UVF) and ] used car bombs against civilians in both ] and the ]. The 1974 UVF bombs in ]<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909071025/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/297183.stm |date=2009-09-09 }} ''BBC News'', 15 March 1999.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Peter|author-link = Peter Taylor (Journalist)|title=Loyalists|publisher=]|year=1999|pages=125–126|isbn=0-7475-4519-7}}</ref> caused the most casualties in a single day during ].
* Palestinian writer ] was assassinated by a car bomb on 8 July 1972 with his 17-year-old niece Lamees Najim in ] by the Israeli ].
* Former ]an General ] was killed by a car bomb on September 30, 1974, along with his wife.
* Freelance terrorist ] claimed responsibility for three car bomb attacks on French newspapers accused of pro-Israeli bias during the 1970s.
* ] mobster ] frequently used car bombs against his enemies, beginning in 1968. Afterwards, they also began to be used against Greene and his associates. The use of car bombs in Cleveland peaked in 1976, when 36 bombs exploded in the city, most of them car bombs, causing it to be nicknamed "Bomb City." Several people, including innocent bystanders, were killed or wounded. Greene himself was finally killed in a car bomb explosion himself, on October 6, 1977.
* Agents of the Chilean intelligence agency ] were convicted of using car bombs to assassinate ] in 1976 and ] in 1974, who were exiled opponents of dictator ]. Letelier was killed in ], in the heart of ] in ]<ref name="Lettieri 2007">{{cite journal|last1=Lettieri|first1=Mike|title=Posada Carriles, Bush's Child of Scorn|journal=Washington Report on the Hemisphere|date=1 June 2007|volume=27|issue=7/8}}</ref>
* The ] of ] frequently made use of car bombs during that country's ] in a campaign which lasted from 1976 until the group's defeat in 2009.
* From 1979 to early 1983, under the guise of the ], ] commanders ], Avigdor Ben-Gal and Meir Dagan launched a campaign of bombings, including car, bicycle, and even donkey bombs. Initially conducted as a response to ]. Largely indiscriminate in its targeting of those associated with the ] in south, Lebanon, the FLLF attacks killed hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese, mainly in ], ] and the surrounding PLO run refugee camps. After 1981, as part of Ariel Sharon's policy of goading the PLO into committing more acts of terror, justifying a military response, FLLF attacks escalated in intensity and scope, spreading to Beirut and northern Lebanon by September. The FLLF even took credit for fictional attacks on the IDF to maintain its cover as a Lebanese organisation.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bergmen |first1=Ronan |title=How Arafat Eluded Israel's Assassination Machine |newspaper=The New York Times |date=23 January 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/magazine/how-arafat-eluded-israels-assassination-machine.html |agency=New York Times Magazine}}</ref> Its most prominent attack on October 1, 1981, in West Beirut killed at least 50 and injured over 250 people. Seven other similar bombs were found and defused before they could explode.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kifner |first1=John |title=BOMB AT P.L.O. OFFICE KILLS AT LEAST 50 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/02/world/bomb-at-plo-office-kills-at-least-50.html |agency=New York Times |date=October 2, 1981}}</ref>
* The German ] occasionally used car bombs, such as in an unsuccessful attempt to attack a ] school for officers in 1984.
* The Basque separatist group {{lang|eu|]|italic=no}} (ETA) attempted their first car bomb assassination in September 1985 and carried out at least 80 massive car bomb attacks in Spain during the last decade before putting its activities on hold in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elmundo.es/eta/atentados/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817150624/http://www.elmundo.es/eta/atentados/index.html|url-status=live|title=elmundo.es &#124; Especial ETA: la dictadura del terror|archive-date=August 17, 2009|website=www.elmundo.es}}</ref>
* Constable Angela Taylor died on her way to collect lunch, the sole fatality of the ] in Melbourne, Australia on 27 March 1986. 22 others were injured.
* On 23 November 1986, two members of the ] carried out the ] using a car bomb, which resulted in the death of one of the attackers.
* Suicide car bombs were a regular feature against Israel in the ] which lasted from 1982 until Israel's withdrawal in 2000. The bombing campaign was waged by several groups, most prominently ].
* In the 1980s, the Colombian drug lord ] used vehicle bombs extensively against government forces and population centers in ] and ]. The most notable car bombing attack was the 1989 ], which killed 63 and injured about 1,000. Also, on July 4, 1989, a car bomb killed governor of Antioquia ] and five others; a prominent member of Escobar's Medellin Cartel later confessed to the crime.
* During the ] of the 1980s, at a variety of training camps in the tribal areas of ],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Mike |chapter=Car-Bomb University |pages= |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WG7nDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT74 |title=Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb |date=2017 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78478-664-9 }}</ref> the Pakistani ] (ISI), with the aid of the ]' ] (CIA) and Britain's ], trained ] in the preparation of car bombs. Car bombs became a regular occurrence during the war, the Afghan civil conflicts which followed, and then during the ] from 2001 and the ] ending in 2021.
* On 26 February 1993, Islamist terrorists led by ] detonated a Ryder van filled with explosives in the parking garage of the ] in ]. Yousef's plan had been to cause one of the towers to collapse into the other, destroying both and killing thousands of people. Although this was not achieved, six people were killed, 1,402 others injured, and extensive damage was caused.
* On 18 April 1993, a tanker containing 500 kilograms of explosives exploded near the mosque in ], destroying the offices of the Bosnian War Presidency, killing at least six people and injuring 50 others. The ] accepted that this action was a piece of pure ] committed by elements within the ] forces, as an attack on the Bosniak population of Stari Vitez - ] old town. ] members tied a ] male civilian from a concentration camp to the steering wheel and set the truck in motion towards the old town.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kordic and Cerkez - Judgement - Part three: IV|url=https://www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/tjug/en/kor-tj010226e-5.htm|access-date=2020-10-13|website=www.icty.org}}</ref>
* On 20 October 1994, ]-led bus bombing in ], ] lead to the death of 22 civilians and the injury of 50. At that time, it was the deadliest ] in ], and the ] in Tel Aviv.
* The ] that lasted from 1994 to 2002 involved the use of car bombings, including one that killed a drug dealer and an 11-year-old boy on 9 August 1995.
* On 19 April 1995, ] detonated a Ryder ] filled with an explosive mixture of ] (ANFO) in front of the ] in ] during the ], killing 168 people, including 19 children who were in the daycare.
* On 25 June 1996, a truck bomb ] in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 ] (USAF) personnel and injuring 372 persons of all nationalities.
* In the late 1990s and early 2000s, vehicular explosives were used by ] nationalists against targets in Russia.
* On 20 April 1999, ] planned to use two car bombs as the last act of the ], apparently to murder first responders. Both failed to explode.

===21st century===
*On 2 December 2001, a ] assailant boarded a bus in ], and then detonated himself, leading to ].
*Southeast Asia-based militant Islamist group ] utilized car bombs in their campaigns during the early 2000s, the most prominent being the ], which killed 202 people.
*Former ] Prime Minister ] was assassinated by a car bomb during ] 21 others were also killed.
*] was discovered in ], ] on May 1, 2010. The bomb had been planted by ]. Evidence suggests that the bombing was planned by the ].
*On ], a car bomb exploded in central ] in ], slightly injuring two bystanders. Twelve minutes later, an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen accidentally detonated six pipe bombs he was carrying, but only one exploded.<ref name="Gardham-1">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8198043/Sweden-suicide-bomber-Taimur-Abdulwahab-al-Abdaly-was-living-in-Britain.html|title=Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain|last=Gardham|first=Duncan|author2=Oscarsson, Marcus |author3=Hutchison, Peter|date=12 December 2010|newspaper=]|access-date=12 December 2010|location=London| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110121205611/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8198043/Sweden-suicide-bomber-Taimur-Abdulwahab-al-Abdaly-was-living-in-Britain.html| archive-date= 21 January 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref> The bomber was killed but there were no other casualties. It is believed that the attacks were the work of homegrown terrorists who were protesting Sweden's involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the publication in Sweden of cartoons depicting ].
*On 22 July 2011, in the ], far-right extremist ] detonated a car bomb within the ] of ], ], killing 8 people.
*In 2013, Afghan security forces intercepted a truck bomb deployed by the ]. It was the largest truck bomb ever built, with some 61,500 lbs of explosives.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HAQQANI NETWORK |url=https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/haqqani_network.html |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.dni.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2013-11-13 |title='Block-Buster' Truck Bomb One of the Biggest Ever |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/afghanistan-block-buster-truck-bomb-biggest/story?id=20863072 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> It was ultimately defused. The bomb was over 10 times the size of the car bomb used on the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. While the bomb was not detonated, it caused security changes throughout the region and the closure of the US Army base FOB Goode near Gardez.<ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Kemper |first1=Bart |date=January 2019 |title=Blast Modeling for Facility Security Management |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330741964 |conference=ISEE 45th Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Techniques |page=6}}</ref>
*During June 2015, in ], ], a vehicle-borne ] resulted in the collapse of an 8-story tall building during battle between the ] and ]. The Daesh truck bomb was fired upon by a ] to detonate it.{{sfn|Kaaman|2019|page=5}}
*On 30 August 2016, Kurdish female soldier from YPJ, ], was killed in ], when ISIS suicide bombers drove cars filled with explosives towards the Kurdish front.
*On 16 October 2017, Maltese journalist and blogger ] died in a car bomb attack.<ref name="tom2017-10-16">{{cite news|title=Daphne Caruana Galizia killed in Bidnija car blast|url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20171016/local/car-goes-up-in-flames-in-bidnija.660575|work=]|date=16 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016160502/https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20171016/local/car-goes-up-in-flames-in-bidnija.660575|archive-date=16 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*On 25 December 2020, a ] in downtown ], injuring at least 8 and killing the perpetrator, Anthony Quinn Warner.
* On 14 November 2021, a ] outside of a women's hospital in ] after a man detonated an IED suicide vest inside a taxi, killing him and severely injuring the driver.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/08/21/daughter-putins-rasputin-alexander-dugin-killed-mystery-moscow/ | title=Liverpool explosion: Three arrested under Terrorism Act after car blast at hospital | newspaper=BBC News | date=15 November 2021 }}</ref>
* During the ], ] have made extensive use of vehicular bomb attacks on Russian and collaborative officials in occupied areas, such as in the ]
*On 20 August 2022, ]'s daughter, ], was killed in ], ] by a bomb placed on Dugin's car.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/08/21/daughter-putins-rasputin-alexander-dugin-killed-mystery-moscow/ | title=Daughter of 'Putin's Rasputin' Alexander Dugin killed in mystery Moscow car bomb | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=21 August 2022 | last1=Kilner | first1=James }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Roth |first1=Andrew |last2=Farrer |first2=Martin |date=2022-08-21 |title=Daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin killed by car bomb in Moscow |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/21/daughter-of-putin-ally-alexander-dugin-killed-in-car-bomb-in-moscow-reports |access-date=2024-07-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
*In late February 2023, it was reported that the ] attempted to use a ] filled with ] aerial bombs and mine-clearing charges from the ] vehicle against Ukrainian positions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Russia uses explosive-equipped armored vehicles to blow up Ukrainian positions |url=https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russia-uses-explosive-equipped-armored-vehicles-to-blow-up-ukrainian-positions/ |website=Militarnyi |access-date=3 September 2023}}</ref>
*On 18 June 2023, the Russian Army was documented as using a ] filled with approximately 6 tons of high explosives against entrenched ] near ], ] with the intent of clearing the trenches.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Axe |first1=David |title=The Russians Packed A Robotic T-55 Tank With Explosives And Rolled It Toward Ukrainian Lines |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/06/18/the-russians-packed-a-robotic-t-55-tank-with-explosives-and-rolled-it-toward-ukrainian-lines/?sh=5a9a5c9e2f86 |website=Forbes |access-date=3 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Newdick |first1=Thomas |title=Ancient Russian T-54 Tank Turned Into Rolling Bomb Explodes In Massive Shockwave |url=https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ancient-russian-t-54-55-tank-turned-into-rolling-bomb-explodes-in-massive-shockwave |website=The Drive |access-date=3 September 2023 |language=en |date=19 June 2023}}</ref>
*On 10 September 2023, it was reported that Ukraine's ] converted a captured ] into a VBIED filled with 1.5 tons of explosives and drove it against Russian positions in the ]. The tank hit a mine and exploded before it could reach the enemy positions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Sinéad |title=Ukraine hit Russia with one of its own prized tactics — turning an old, captured tank into a giant rolling bomb |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-uses-russia-tactic-turning-tank-rolling-bomb-against-it-2023-9?r=US&IR=T |access-date=15 September 2023 |work=Business Insider}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Sinéad |title=The guy who drove a rolling tank bomb at Russian soldiers jammed the accelerator down before jumping out of a hatch, Ukraine says |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-rolling-tank-bomb-driver-jammed-accelerator-jumped-out-hatch-2023-9 |access-date=15 September 2023 |work=Business Insider}}</ref>
*On 13 July 2024, ] ] ], the former president of the United States, at a campaign rally near ]. Crooks attempt was unsuccessful and he was killed in the process. Following his death, investigators found explosive devices in the trunk of his car, suggesting he planned to set off an explosion remotely as a possible distraction.<ref>{{cite news|date=15 July 2024|title=A shooting range, a gun store, and a ladder purchase: Tracking the Trump rally gunman's movements leading up to his attack|work=]|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/15/us/thomas-crooks-trump-rally-shooting-invs/index.html|access-date=16 July 2024}}</ref>

== Groups that use car bombs==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2020}}

===West Asia===
*] member ] was assassinated by a car bomb in Syria in 2008, allegedly by ].
*Various Palestinian militant groups such as ], ], ], and ] against both military and civilian ]i targets.
*], in attacks around the world since the 1990s, most notably the ].
*During the ], the ] have often employed vehicular explosives against enemy targets. This included not only cars and trucks, but even ]s.
*Similar to ], other organizations associated with the ] have been known to use car bombs to kill rivals of the Israeli state, including the ] (IDF).
] were investigating the scene of an earlier such blast, resulting in 18 casualties.]]
*The ]. An estimated 578 car bombs were detonated in Iraq between June 2003 and June 2006. Car bombs continue to be commonly used.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f141b23e-f86a-11db-a940-000b5df10621.html|publisher=Financial Times|title=Explosive reading|author= Daniel Swift|date=4 May 2007|work=Review of: Buda’s Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb|access-date=6 May 2010}}</ref>
*The ], which has employed armored explosive-laden ]s, full-sized ]s, and ]s as suicidal tactical units to breach enemy defensive fronts in Syria and Iraq. The use of armored tractors and ]s was also recorded over the course of the war.

===Americas===
*Although it has never been officially acknowledged, the American ] has occasionally been accused of being behind car bombings. One such attack was the failed assassination attempt on Grand Ayatollah ] in the ]. Although there has been widespread speculation of CIA involvement, this has never been proven conclusively.
*The ]'s armed wing, ], used a car bomb to attack police officers in ], ] on 15 July 2010.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ellingwood|first=Ken|title=Mexico arrests man alleged to have directed fatal Juarez car bomb attack|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-21-la-fg-mexico-carbomb-20101022-story.html|access-date=6 May 2012|newspaper=]|date=21 October 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20120508033707/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/21/world/la-fg-mexico-carbomb-20101022|archive-date=8 May 2012}}</ref>
*The ] and the ] were blamed for using car bombs in ], ] on 24 April 2011 to "heat up" the turf of ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Car bomb explosion followed by shootout in Nuevo Laredo|url=http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=745672#.T6XAxJ9YvDE|access-date=6 May 2012|newspaper=]|date=24 April 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426224747/http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=745672#.T6XAxJ9YvDE|archive-date=26 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Reafirma El Chapo presencia en Tamaulipas con coche bomba|url=http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2012/04/reafirma-el-chapo-presencia-en-tamulipas-con-coche-bomba/|access-date=6 May 2012|newspaper=]|date=24 April 2012|language=es|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427212401/http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2012/04/reafirma-el-chapo-presencia-en-tamulipas-con-coche-bomba/|archive-date=27 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Suman 23 ejecutados en Nuevo Laredo, entre decapitados y colgados|url=http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=306356|access-date=6 May 2012|work=]|date=4 May 2012|language=es|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507040149/http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=306356|archive-date=7 May 2012}}</ref>

===Europe===
*]s in Northern Ireland used car bombs in the last two decades,{{clarify timeframe|date=November 2022 |reason=This mentions a 1998 attack, but that was not within the last two decades}} the deadliest attack being the ] of 1998.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10853360|title=200lb of explosives in Derry car bomb|newspaper=BBC News|date=3 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822161330/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10853360|archive-date=2010-08-22}}</ref>
*The ] used a car bomb in ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-26 |title=SBU claims responsibility for 2022 Crimean Bridge attack |url=https://news.yahoo.com/sbu-claims-responsibility-2022-crimean-170000550.html |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}</ref>
*The ] used a car bomb in the ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1992-07-21 |title=DI STRAGE IN STRAGE - la Repubblica.it |url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1992/07/21/di-strage-in-strage.html |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=Archivio - la Repubblica.it |language=it}}</ref>

===South Asia===
*Militants and criminals in ] occasionally utilize car bombs in attacks. This includes Muslim, ], ]i and ] militants, as well as rival politicians within the government and ]. A notable recent attack was the ], in which two car bombs killed 54 people. The attack was claimed by the Pakistani-backed Kashmiri separatist group ].
*The ] have occasionally used car bombs in their ongoing conflict with the government of Pakistan.


==See also== ==See also==
* ]
]
* ] * ] (IED)
* ]
* ]
* '']''
* ]
** ]


==Notes== ==Notes==
{{reflist}} {{reflist|30em}}


==References== ==References==
*], ''Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb'' (Verso: New York, 2007). *], ''Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb'' (Verso: New York, 2007).
*{{cite report |last1=Kaaman |first1=Hugo |title=Car Bombs as Weapons of War ISIS's Development of SVBIEDS, 2014-19 |date=April 2019 |publisher=Middle East Institute |location=Washington, DC |url=https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2019-04/Car_Bombs_as_Weapons_of_War_0.pdf |access-date=29 September 2023}}
*{{cite book |last1=Armistead |first1=Gene C. |title=Horses and Mules in the Civil War: A Complete History with a Roster of More Than 700 War Horses |date=28 August 2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0237-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DfRtAAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
*{{cite report |last1=Kaaman |first1=Hugo |title=Shifting Gears: HTS's Evolving Use of SVBIEDs During the Idlib Offensive of 2019-20 |date=28 October 2020 |publisher=Middle East Institute |location=Washington, DC |url=https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2020-10/Shifting%20Gears%20-%20HTS%E2%80%99s%20Evolving%20Use%20of%20SVBIEDs%20During%20the%20Idlib%20Offensive%20of%202019-20.pdf |access-date=29 September 2023 |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Lepage |first1=Jean-Denis G. G. |title=German Military Vehicles of World War II: An Illustrated Guide to Cars, Trucks, Half-Tracks, Motorcycles, Amphibious Vehicles and Others |date=18 November 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-6252-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbeYqc5DBFAC |language=en}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{commonscat|Car bombs}} {{commons category|Car bombs}}
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Latest revision as of 15:35, 23 December 2024

Improvised explosive device For other uses, see Car bomb (disambiguation).
The result of a car bombing during the Iraq War
Part of a series on
Terrorism and political violence
By ideology
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A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles.

Car bombs can be roughly divided into two main categories: those used primarily to kill the occupants of the vehicle (often as an assassination) and those used as a means to kill, injure or damage people and buildings outside the vehicle. The latter type may be parked (the vehicle disguising the bomb and allowing the bomber to get away), or the vehicle might be used to deliver the bomb (often as part of a suicide bombing).

It is commonly used as a weapon of terrorism or guerrilla warfare to kill people near the blast site or to damage buildings or other property. Car bombs act as their own delivery mechanisms and can carry a relatively large amount of explosives without attracting suspicion. In larger vehicles and trucks, weights of around 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) or more have been used, for example, in the Oklahoma City bombing. Car bombs are activated in a variety of ways, including opening the vehicle's doors, starting the engine, remote detonation, depressing the accelerator or brake pedals, or simply lighting a fuse or setting a timing device. The gasoline in the vehicle's fuel tank may make the explosion of the bomb more powerful by dispersing and igniting the fuel.

History

Mario Buda's improvised wagon used in the 1920 Wall Street bombing is considered a prototype of the car bomb.

The first non-suicide car bombing "fully conceptualized as a weapon of urban warfare" came January 12, 1947 when Lehi (also known as Stern Gang), a Zionist paramilitary organization, bombed the Haifa police station.

In the fall of 2005, there were 140 car bombings happening per month.

Car bombs are preceded by the 16th century hellburners, explosive-laden ships which were used to deadly effect by the besieged Dutch forces in Antwerp against the besieging Spanish. Though using a less refined technology, the basic principle of the hellburner is similar to that of the car bomb.

Car bombs would start out with animals such as horses and cows, then it eventually emerged into a car.

The first reported suicide car bombing (and possibly the first suicide bombing) was the Bath School bombings of 1927, where 45 people, including the bomber, were killed and half of a school was destroyed.

Mass-casualty suicide car bombings are predominantly associated with the Middle East, particularly in recent decades. A notable suicide car bombing was the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, when two simultaneous attacks killed 241 U.S. and 58 French peacekeepers. The perpetrator of these attacks has never been positively confirmed. In the Lebanese Civil War, an estimated 3,641 car bombs were detonated. The tactic was adopted by Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad, especially during the Second Intifada (2000–2005).

While not an adaptation of a people-carrying vehicle, the WW2 German Goliath remote control mine, shares many parallels with a vehicle-based IED. It approached a target (often a tank or another armoured vehicle) at some speed, and then exploded, destroying itself and the target. It was armoured so that it could not be destroyed en route. However, it was not driven by a person, instead operated by remote control from a safe distance.

Prior to the 20th century, bombs planted in horse carts had been used in assassination plots, notably in the unsuccessful "machine infernale" attempt to kill Napoleon on 24 December 1800.

The first car bomb may have been the one used for the assassination attempt on Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1905 in Istanbul by Armenian separatists in the command of Papken Siuni belonging to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

Car bombing was a significant part of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) campaign during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Dáithí Ó Conaill is credited with introducing the car bomb to Northern Ireland. Car bombs were also used by Ulster loyalist groups (for example, by the UVF during the Dublin and Monaghan bombings).

PIRA Chief of Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin defines the car bomb as both a tactical and a strategic guerrilla warfare weapon. Strategically, it disrupts the ability of the enemy government to administer the country, and hits simultaneously at the core of its economic structure by means of massive destruction. From a tactical point of view, it ties down a large number of security forces and troops around the main urban areas of the region in conflict.

As a delivery system

Car bomb in Iraq, made up of a number of artillery shells concealed in the back of a pickup truck.

Car bombs are effective weapons as they are an easy way to transport a large number of explosives to the intended target. A car bomb also produces copious shrapnel, or flying debris, and secondary damage to bystanders and buildings. In recent years, car bombs have become widely used by suicide bombers.

Countermeasures

Defending against a car bomb involves keeping vehicles at a distance from vulnerable targets by using roadblocks and checkpoints, Jersey barriers, concrete blocks or bollards, metal barriers, or by hardening buildings to withstand an explosion. The entrance to Downing Street in London has been closed since 1991 in reaction to the Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign, preventing the general public from getting near Number 10. Where major public roads pass near buildings, road closures may be the only option (thus, for instance, in Washington, D.C. the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue immediately in front of the White House is closed to traffic). Historically these tactics have encouraged potential bombers to target "soft" or unprotected targets, such as markets.

Suicide usage

In the Iraqi and Syrian Civil War, the car bomb concept was modified so that it could be driven and detonated by a driver but armoured to withstand incoming fire. The vehicle would be driven to its target area, in a similar fashion to a kamikaze plane of WW2. These were known by the acronym SVBIED (from Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device) or VBIEDs. This saw generally civilian cars with armour plating added, that would protect the car for as long as possible, so that it could reach its intended target. Cars were sometimes driven into enemy troop areas, or into incoming enemy columns. Most often, the SVBIEDs were used by ISIL against Government forces, but also used by Syrian rebels (FSA and allied militias, especially the Al-Nusra Front) against government troops.

The vehicles have become more sophisticated, with armour plating on the vehicle, protected vision slits, armour plating over the wheels so they would withstand being shot at, and also in some cases, additional metal grating over the front of the vehicle designed to crush or destroy shaped charges such as those used on rocket propelled grenades.

A mock explosion of a pickup truck converted to SVBIED, used by U.S. marines for OPFOR purposes at Camp Pendleton

In some cases, trucks were also used as well as cars. They were sometimes used to start an assault. Generally, the vehicles had a large space that would contain very heavy explosives. In some cases, animal drawn carts with improvised explosive devices have been used, generally either mules or horses. Tactically, a single vehicle may be used, or an initial "breakthrough" vehicle, then followed by another vehicle.

While many car bombs are disguised as ordinary vehicles, some that are used against military forces have improvised vehicle armour attached to prevent the driver from being shot when attacking a fortified outpost.

Operation

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TSA officers view the post-blast remains of a Dodge Neon after an explosive was detonated inside it during training.

Car bombs and detonators function in a diverse manner of ways and there are numerous variables in the operation and placement of the bomb within the vehicle. Earlier and less advanced car bombs were often wired to the car's ignition system, but this practice is now considered more laborious and less effective than other more recent methods, as it requires a greater amount of work for a system that can often be quite easily defused. While it is more common nowadays for car bombs to be fixed magnetically to the underside of the car, underneath the passenger or driver's seat, or inside of the mudguard, detonators triggered by the opening of the vehicle door or by pressure applied to the brakes or accelerating pedals are also used.

Bombs operating by the former method of fixation to the underside of the car more often than not make use of a device called a tilt fuse. A small tube made of glass or plastic, the tilt fuse is similar in operation to a mercury switch or medical tablet tube. One end of the fuse will be filled with mercury, while the other open end is wired with the ends of an open circuit to an electrical firing system. When the tilt fuse moves or is jerked, the supply of mercury will flow to the top of the tube and close the circuit. Thus, as the vehicle goes through the regular bumping and dipping that comes with driving over a terrain, the circuit is completed, and the explosive is detonated.

Car bombs are effective as booby traps because they also leave very little evidence. When an explosion happens, it is difficult for forensics to find any evidence because things either denigrate or become charred.

As a safety mechanism to protect the bomber, the placer of the bomb may rig a timing device incorporated with the circuit to activate the circuit only after a certain time period, therefore ensuring the bomber will not accidentally activate the bomb before they are able to get clear of the blast radius.

Even though right now car bombs are supposed to be stealth weapons that cause a good deal of damage, it is feared that they can become bigger, more lethal weapons such as the size of a trailer, making huge explosions and causing plenty of damage.

Examples

This article may contain excessive or irrelevant examples. Please help improve the article by adding descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. (June 2021)
Main article: List of mass car bombings

20th century

Vietcong car bombing aftermath scene in Saigon, 1965.
  • The Viet Cong guerrillas used them throughout the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • The OAS used them at the end of the French rule in Algeria in 1961 and 1962.
  • The Sicilian Mafia used them to assassinate independent magistrates starting in the 1960s and up to the early 1990s.
  • The IRA used them frequently during its 1960s to 1990s campaign during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and England. The 1998 Omagh bombing by the Real IRA, an IRA splinter group, caused the most casualties in the Troubles from a single car bomb. Loyalist organisations in Northern Ireland of the 1960s and 1970s such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association used car bombs against civilians in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The 1974 UVF bombs in Dublin and Monaghan caused the most casualties in a single day during the Troubles.
  • Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by a car bomb on 8 July 1972 with his 17-year-old niece Lamees Najim in Beirut by the Israeli Mossad.
  • Former Chilean General Carlos Prats was killed by a car bomb on September 30, 1974, along with his wife.
  • Freelance terrorist Carlos the Jackal claimed responsibility for three car bomb attacks on French newspapers accused of pro-Israeli bias during the 1970s.
  • Cleveland mobster Danny Greene frequently used car bombs against his enemies, beginning in 1968. Afterwards, they also began to be used against Greene and his associates. The use of car bombs in Cleveland peaked in 1976, when 36 bombs exploded in the city, most of them car bombs, causing it to be nicknamed "Bomb City." Several people, including innocent bystanders, were killed or wounded. Greene himself was finally killed in a car bomb explosion himself, on October 6, 1977.
  • Agents of the Chilean intelligence agency DINA were convicted of using car bombs to assassinate Orlando Letelier in 1976 and Carlos Prats in 1974, who were exiled opponents of dictator Augusto Pinochet. Letelier was killed in Sheridan Circle, in the heart of Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.
  • The Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka frequently made use of car bombs during that country's civil war in a campaign which lasted from 1976 until the group's defeat in 2009.
  • From 1979 to early 1983, under the guise of the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners, Israel Defense Forces commanders Rafael Eitan, Avigdor Ben-Gal and Meir Dagan launched a campaign of bombings, including car, bicycle, and even donkey bombs. Initially conducted as a response to the killing of Israeli civilians at Nahariya. Largely indiscriminate in its targeting of those associated with the Palestine Liberation Organization in south, Lebanon, the FLLF attacks killed hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese, mainly in Tyre, Lebanon, Sidon and the surrounding PLO run refugee camps. After 1981, as part of Ariel Sharon's policy of goading the PLO into committing more acts of terror, justifying a military response, FLLF attacks escalated in intensity and scope, spreading to Beirut and northern Lebanon by September. The FLLF even took credit for fictional attacks on the IDF to maintain its cover as a Lebanese organisation. Its most prominent attack on October 1, 1981, in West Beirut killed at least 50 and injured over 250 people. Seven other similar bombs were found and defused before they could explode.
  • The German Red Army Faction occasionally used car bombs, such as in an unsuccessful attempt to attack a NATO school for officers in 1984.
  • The Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) attempted their first car bomb assassination in September 1985 and carried out at least 80 massive car bomb attacks in Spain during the last decade before putting its activities on hold in 2011.
  • Constable Angela Taylor died on her way to collect lunch, the sole fatality of the Russell Street bombing in Melbourne, Australia on 27 March 1986. 22 others were injured.
  • On 23 November 1986, two members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation carried out the Melbourne Turkish consulate bombing using a car bomb, which resulted in the death of one of the attackers.
  • Suicide car bombs were a regular feature against Israel in the 1982 Lebanon War which lasted from 1982 until Israel's withdrawal in 2000. The bombing campaign was waged by several groups, most prominently Hezbollah.
  • In the 1980s, the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar used vehicle bombs extensively against government forces and population centers in Colombia and Latin America. The most notable car bombing attack was the 1989 DAS Building bombing, which killed 63 and injured about 1,000. Also, on July 4, 1989, a car bomb killed governor of Antioquia Antonio Roldán Betancur and five others; a prominent member of Escobar's Medellin Cartel later confessed to the crime.
  • During the Soviet–Afghan War of the 1980s, at a variety of training camps in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with the aid of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Britain's MI6, trained mujahideen in the preparation of car bombs. Car bombs became a regular occurrence during the war, the Afghan civil conflicts which followed, and then during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan from 2001 and the war in Afghanistan ending in 2021.
  • On 26 February 1993, Islamist terrorists led by Ramzi Yousef detonated a Ryder van filled with explosives in the parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Yousef's plan had been to cause one of the towers to collapse into the other, destroying both and killing thousands of people. Although this was not achieved, six people were killed, 1,402 others injured, and extensive damage was caused.
  • On 18 April 1993, a tanker containing 500 kilograms of explosives exploded near the mosque in Vitez, destroying the offices of the Bosnian War Presidency, killing at least six people and injuring 50 others. The ICTY accepted that this action was a piece of pure terrorism committed by elements within the Croat forces, as an attack on the Bosniak population of Stari Vitez - Vitez old town. HVO members tied a Bosniak male civilian from a concentration camp to the steering wheel and set the truck in motion towards the old town.
  • On 20 October 1994, Hamas-led bus bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel lead to the death of 22 civilians and the injury of 50. At that time, it was the deadliest suicide bombing in Israeli history, and the first successful attack in Tel Aviv.
  • The Quebec Biker War that lasted from 1994 to 2002 involved the use of car bombings, including one that killed a drug dealer and an 11-year-old boy on 9 August 1995.
  • On 19 April 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a Ryder box truck filled with an explosive mixture of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil (ANFO) in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City during the Oklahoma City bombing, killing 168 people, including 19 children who were in the daycare.
  • On 25 June 1996, a truck bomb destroyed the Khobar Towers military complex in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 United States Air Force (USAF) personnel and injuring 372 persons of all nationalities.
  • In the late 1990s and early 2000s, vehicular explosives were used by Chechen nationalists against targets in Russia.
  • On 20 April 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold planned to use two car bombs as the last act of the Columbine High School massacre, apparently to murder first responders. Both failed to explode.

21st century

Groups that use car bombs

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West Asia

A 2005 car bombing in Iraq, in which a second car bomb was detonated while US forces were investigating the scene of an earlier such blast, resulting in 18 casualties.
  • The Iraqi insurgency. An estimated 578 car bombs were detonated in Iraq between June 2003 and June 2006. Car bombs continue to be commonly used.
  • The Islamic State, which has employed armored explosive-laden crossovers, full-sized pickup trucks, and SUVs as suicidal tactical units to breach enemy defensive fronts in Syria and Iraq. The use of armored tractors and haul trucks was also recorded over the course of the war.

Americas

Europe

South Asia

  • Militants and criminals in India occasionally utilize car bombs in attacks. This includes Muslim, Sikh, Kashmiri and Naxalite militants, as well as rival politicians within the government and organized crime. A notable recent attack was the 25 August 2003 Mumbai bombings, in which two car bombs killed 54 people. The attack was claimed by the Pakistani-backed Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
  • The Pakistani Taliban have occasionally used car bombs in their ongoing conflict with the government of Pakistan.

See also

Notes

  1. Kaaman 2019, pp. 1−3.
  2. Jha, Rajshekhar (17 February 2019). "Why car bombs are worrying our forces". The Economic Times. ProQuest 2181845864.
  3. "The Oklahoma City Bombing 20 Years Later". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  4. ^ Wilkinson, Paul; Christop Harman (1993). Technology and terrorism. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-4552-4.
  5. ^ Davis, Mike (2019). "The First Car Bomb". Transforming Terror. pp. 32–33. doi:10.1525/9780520949454-011. ISBN 978-0-520-94945-4.
  6. "The Atlas Group and Walid Raad - Cornerhouse". Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
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  8. "Major Palestinian Terror Attacks Since Oslo". 2024-04-08. Archived from the original on 2024-04-08. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  9. Davis, Mike (2017-01-17). Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78478-665-6.
  10. Nelson, Cary (2016-07-11). Dreams Deferred: A Concise Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict & the Movement to Boycott Israel. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-02518-0.
  11. "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  12. Lepage 2014, pp. 164−166.
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  21. See Davis.
  22. ^ Kaaman 2019, p. 3.
  23. Kaaman 2019, p. 4.
  24. Kaaman 2020, pp. 1−13.
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  26. ^ Kaaman 2019, p. 5.
  27. Armistead 2013, pp. 39−40.
  28. Barron, James (17 September 2003). "After 1920 Blast, The Opposite Of 'Never Forget'; No Memorials on Wall St. For Attack That Killed 30". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  29. Kaaman 2019, p. 6.
  30. Olson, Dean (2012). Tactical Counterterrorism the Law Enforcement Manual of Terrorism Prevention. Springfield: Charles C Thomas. ISBN 9780398087234. p.166
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  32. Car bomb kills Northern Ireland lawyer Archived 2009-09-09 at the Wayback Machine BBC News, 15 March 1999.
  33. Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 125–126. ISBN 0-7475-4519-7.
  34. Lettieri, Mike (1 June 2007). "Posada Carriles, Bush's Child of Scorn". Washington Report on the Hemisphere. 27 (7/8).
  35. Bergmen, Ronan (23 January 2018). "How Arafat Eluded Israel's Assassination Machine". The New York Times. New York Times Magazine.
  36. Kifner, John (October 2, 1981). "BOMB AT P.L.O. OFFICE KILLS AT LEAST 50". The New York Times. New York Times.
  37. "elmundo.es | Especial ETA: la dictadura del terror". www.elmundo.es. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009.
  38. Davis, Mike (2017). "Car-Bomb University". Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78478-664-9.
  39. "Kordic and Cerkez - Judgement - Part three: IV". www.icty.org. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  40. Gardham, Duncan; Oscarsson, Marcus; Hutchison, Peter (12 December 2010). "Sweden suicide bomber: Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly was living in Britain". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
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  45. "Liverpool explosion: Three arrested under Terrorism Act after car blast at hospital". BBC News. 15 November 2021.
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  53. "A shooting range, a gun store, and a ladder purchase: Tracking the Trump rally gunman's movements leading up to his attack". CNN. 15 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
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References

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