Accident or Intentional?
Semper Fi
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Nothing at all......sounds to me like a ADR op (ammo destruct request) where one man was in the crater priming in and the ones they found were departing the scene as something went south. Could'a been Army engineers or any service EOD team. Haven't heard anything offical.
SLB or Archy may have better data......
Stay Safe !
I haven't heard anything official or unofficial, though I understand that dump was very extensive- 100+ bunkers- and under the opcon of the Polish peacekeepeing force. Initial press reports indicated *more than 5* KIA, followups reported 20 or *around*- probably based on recovery of body parts.
I have no idea how Polish EOD procedures match or differ from ours, but they're looking at doing things the NATO way, and there is both official and unofficial info-sharing on methodology, both in Afghanistan and Iraq. But I suspect *bolo beans,* either set up by the Poles, US redfenders or snakeeater elements, or a leftover Iraqi boobytrap to discourage souvenier hunters.
Iraqis Killed in Munitions Dump Explosion
About 20 Iraqis were killed in an explosion at a munitions dump in Iraq today, a spokesman for Polish-led peacekeepers was quoted as saying.
The blast occurred after midnight about 112 miles south-west of Karbala in the desert when Iraqis broke into the storage site, military spokesman Colonel Robert Strzelecki told the Polish news agency PAP.
He said it was unclear what caused the blast. The dump, formerly used by Saddam Hussein’s army, consists of about 100 bunkers spread over a wide area and contains munitions such as artillery shells and rockets, the spokesman told PAP.
Peacekeepers saw the intruders entering the site on their ground radar screens but were unable to get to the location on time to stop them, Strzelecki said.
Poland staunchly supported the war in Iraq and commands a roughly 9,500-strong multinational force in the south-central region, including 2,400 Polish troops.
Staff Sgt Shawn Prather, 705th Explosive Ordnance Company, Fort
Polk, La, teaches a Polish and French EOD about some of his companies
equipment,which was on display here Thursday during an EOD convention.
[Bagram, Afghanistan]
A Polish Airborne EOD team tapes grenades and
prepares other munitions for shipment.