IEDs Made in Iraq and Afghanistan on the Rise

Find their way to other countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, and Syria

The signature insurgent weapon of Iraq and Afghanistan is proving more durable than either war. Every month, outside either the U.S. former warzone or its remaining active one, militia groups construct approximately 600 cheap, homemade bombs to hide in ditches, roadsides, culverts and vehicles — nearly twice as many as they did two years ago.

That's the latest assessment of the Pentagon's task force to stop the bombs, known as the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization or JIEDDO. For the past two years, nations beyond Iraq and Afghanistan have tallied between 500 and 600 bombs per month. On any average month during that period, the bombs kill 310 people and injure 833, far from the lands that birthed the homemade bombs.