US warns of huge increase in Afghan booby traps

US military chiefs have warned troops pouring into Afghanistan of a huge increase in roadside bombings and suicide attacks by the Taliban.

The deadly devices are strategically buried in the middle of dirt roads, packed in culverts and attached to trip wires.

The US military expects a 50% increase this year in roadside and suicide bombings, which surpassed the number of similar strikes in Iraq during the spring.

These types of bombs killed 172 coalition forces last year – and far more Afghan civilians – according to military figures.

“We don’t hide the truth from them. We tell them if you are going to be killed or injured in Afghanistan, it is probably going to be by an IED (improvised explosive device),” said Command Sgt Major David Puig, 51, of Fort Lewis, Washington.

The dramatic rise in these attacks – and the insurgents’ skill in placing and camouflaging the bombs – complicates the US mission as the Obama administration searches for a fresh approach against the uprising with the appointment this week of a new commander, Lt Gen Stanley McChrystal.

Troops who have served previous tours in Afghanistan, when the Taliban insurgency was not so violent, say they now confront far more IEDs.

Roadside or suicide bombings are up 25% for the first four months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, says Col Jeffrey Jarkowsky, commander of Joint Task Force Paladin, the counter-IED unit at the main US base at Bagram.

The task force predicts bomb attacks will rise 50% this year to 5,700 – up from 3,800 last year.

Attacks “will ramp up in the summer to where it will be an increase of maybe 60% one month and will average out to 50%”, Col Jarkowsky said.