October 30, 2006:
Pakistani police have captured Taliban and al Qaeda personnel who were in possession of surveillance cameras. Apparently al Qaeda or Taliban bomb makers have been experimenting with the use of surveillance cameras in conjunction with command-detonated (via a wire or wireless) IEDs. Because American and NATO forces have so many jammers, wireless detonators are often useless. So by using cheap vidcams, a wire detonated roadside bomb could be watched without having any terrorists nearby. Since the American and NATO response is often so swift, the bomb detonation team is often in great danger when they try to get away. The battlefield is different in Afghanistan, where population density and distribution is quite different from Iraq. So new technologies are needed if the bomb teams are to survive.