Improvised explosive device

Ammunition rigged for an IED discovered by Iraqi police in Baghdad in November 2005
This Cougar in Al Anbar, Iraq, was hit by a directed charge IED, approximately 90 –.
X-ray of a suitcase showing a pipe bomb and a laptop.
Improvised explosive device in Iraq. The concave copper shape on top defines an explosively formed penetrator/projectile
Artillery shells and gasoline cans discovered in the back of a pick-up truck in Iraq
A U.S. Marine in Iraq shown with a robot used for disposal of buried devices
Israeli IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer, which is used by the IDF Combat Engineering Corps for clearing heavy belly charges and booby-trapped buildings.
U.S. Marines with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) destroy an improvised explosive device cache in southern Afghanistan in June 2010.
A Stryker lies on its side following a buried IED blast in Iraq. (2007)
Oil-drum roadside IED removed from culvert in 1984
Wheelbarrow counter-IED robot on streets of Northern Ireland in 1978
Captured IEDs from a cache left behind by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Syria, 26 January 2019

Bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action.

- Improvised explosive device
Ammunition rigged for an IED discovered by Iraqi police in Baghdad in November 2005

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Examples of anti-personnel mines. Center: Valmara 69 (a bounding mine); right: VS-50

Land mine

Explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it.

Explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it.

Examples of anti-personnel mines. Center: Valmara 69 (a bounding mine); right: VS-50
Swedish FFV 028 anti-tank-mines of the German Bundeswehr (inert versions)
Roman caltrop
Illustration of the "self-tripped trespass land mine" from the Huolongjing
'Underground sky soaring thunder', land mines connected to weapons above ground, from the Wubei Zhi
Cutaway diagram of the S-mine
The Schu-mine 42, the most common mine used in the Second World War
Claymore mine with firing device and electric blasting cap assembly
An L9 Bar Mine
Section of an anti-tank mine. Note the yellow main charge wrapped around a red booster charge, and the secondary fuze well on the side of the mine designed for an anti-handling device
Diagram of components
Examples of anti-handling devices
Anti personnel mine in Cambodia
A U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician removing the fuze from a Russian-made mine to clear a minefield outside of Fallujah, Iraq
Argentine minefield at Port William, Falkland Islands created in 1982; clearance inhibited by boggy terrain
Minefield warning on the Golan Heights, still valid more than 40 years after creation of the field by the Syrian army
School posters in Karabakh educating children on mines and UXO
British Royal Engineers practice mine clearance
Party states to the Ottawa Treaty (in blue)
Bomb disposal Advanced Bomb Suit

Overlapping both categories is the improvised explosive device (IED), which is "a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating explosive material, destructive, lethal, noxious, incendiary, pyrotechnic materials or chemicals designed to destroy, disfigure, distract or harass. They may incorporate military stores, but are normally devised from non-military components."

The result of a car bombing during the Iraq War

Car bomb

The result of a car bombing during the Iraq War
Car bomb in Iraq, made up of a number of artillery shells concealed in the back of a pickup truck.
A mock explosion of a pickup truck converted to SVBIED, used by U.S. marines for OPFOR purposes at Camp Pendleton
TSA officers view the post-blast remains of a Dodge Neon after an explosive was detonated inside it during training.
Vietcong car bombing aftermath scene in Saigon, 1965.
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.

A car bomb, bus 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.

Grooved body of a Second World War-era U.S. Mk 2 grenade. The grooves covering the exterior of the grenade are used to aid in the gripping of the grenade when throwing.

Fragmentation (weaponry)

Grooved body of a Second World War-era U.S. Mk 2 grenade. The grooves covering the exterior of the grenade are used to aid in the gripping of the grenade when throwing.
Diagram of S-mine in the delivery of steel ball fragments
An illustration of a fragmentation bomb from the 14th century Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing. The black dots represent iron pellets.
Early artillery shell, with the fragments it would generate. 1900
Artillery shell fragment from the Gulf War
Grenade fragments in the soft tissue of the lower leg (along with an old fracture of the fibula)

Fragmentation is the process by which the casing, shot, or other components of an anti-personnel weapon, bomb, barrel bomb, land mine, IED, artillery, mortar, tank gun, or autocannon shell, rocket, missile, grenade, etc. are dispersed and/or shattered by the detonation of the explosive filler.

Guerrilla warfare during the Peninsular War, by Roque Gameiro, depicting a Portuguese guerrilla ambush against French forces. The term "guerrilla" was coined during this conflict, which occurred in the early 19th century.

Guerrilla warfare

Form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.

Form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.

Guerrilla warfare during the Peninsular War, by Roque Gameiro, depicting a Portuguese guerrilla ambush against French forces. The term "guerrilla" was coined during this conflict, which occurred in the early 19th century.
Spanish guerrilla resistance to the Napoleonic French invasion of Spain at the Battle of Valdepeñas
Lakhdari, Drif, Bouhired and Bouali. Algerian women guerrillas of the War of Independence c. 1956
Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War in South Africa
The Estonian Forest Brothers relaxing and cleaning their guns after a shooting exercise in Veskiaru, Järva County, Estonia, in 1953
A Tuareg rebel fighter with a DShK on a technical in northern Niger, 2008

In addition to traditional military methods, guerrilla groups may rely also on destroying infrastructure, using improvised explosive devices, for example.

Formation of an EFP warhead. USAF Research Laboratory.

Explosively formed penetrator

Explosively formed projectile, a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armor effectively.

Explosively formed projectile, a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armor effectively.

Formation of an EFP warhead. USAF Research Laboratory.
Formation of an EFP
MPB mine showing the face of its explosively formed penetrator
Improvised Explosive Device in Iraq. When activated, the concave copper shape on top becomes an explosively formed penetrator.

EFPs have been used in improvised explosive devices against armoured cars, for example in the 1989 assassination of the German banker Alfred Herrhausen (attributed to the Red Army Faction), and by Hezbollah in the 1990s.

A "wind-and-dust" bomb depicted in the Ming Dynasty book Huolongjing. The pot contains a tube of gunpowder, and was thrown at invaders.

Bomb

Explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy.

Explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy.

A "wind-and-dust" bomb depicted in the Ming Dynasty book Huolongjing. The pot contains a tube of gunpowder, and was thrown at invaders.
An illustration depicting bombs thrown at Manchu assault ladders during the siege of Ningyuan, from the book Thai Tsu Shih Lu Thu (Veritable Records of the Great Ancestor) written in 1635. The bombs are known as "thunder-crash bombs."
Thunder crash bombs from the Mongol invasions of Japan (13th century) that were excavated from a shipwreck near Takashim, Japan.
An illustration of a fragmentation bomb from the 14th century Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing. The black dots represent iron pellets.
Diagram of a simple time bomb in the form of a pipe bomb
An American B61 nuclear bomb on its loading carriage
Unexploded unguided aerial bomb with contact fuse used by the Portuguese Air Force, Guinea-Bissau War of Independence, March 1974.
A B-2 Spirit drops forty-seven 500 lb class Mark 82 bombs (little more than half a B-2's maximum total ordnance payload) in a 1994 live fire exercise in California
An F-15E Strike Eagle releasing 1 5000 lb GBU-28 "Bunker Buster" during a test
Soviet's bombing destruction during the Continuation War in Helsinki, Finland, the night of February 6-7, 1944.

For instance, in recent Middle Eastern conflicts, homemade bombs called "improvised explosive devices" (IEDs) have been employed by insurgent fighters to great effectiveness.

Vietnam War: Republic of Korea Armed Forces soldiers show Vietnamese villagers types of Viet Cong booby traps.

Booby trap

Device or setup that is intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human being or an animal.

Device or setup that is intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human being or an animal.

Vietnam War: Republic of Korea Armed Forces soldiers show Vietnamese villagers types of Viet Cong booby traps.
A group of 105mm artillery shells with plastic explosive stuffed into their fuze pockets. Each of the 5 shells has been linked together with red detcord to make them detonate simultaneously. To turn this assembly into a booby trap, the final step would be to connect an M142 firing device to the detcord and hide everything under some form of cover e.g. newspapers or a bed-sheet.
Booby-trap firing devices, c. 1941: press, pull and release switches; mass-produced components intended for the construction of booby traps.
A Yugoslav POMZ anti-personnel mine that has been booby trapped with a hand grenade. A deminer could disable the stake mine, only to set off the hand-grenade when they remove the mine for disposal. (Balkans 1996)
Simple Trou de loup booby trap: concealed pitfall with sharp spike at the bottom
USSR booby trap firing device - pull fuze: normally connected to a tripwire
Alternative design of USSR booby trap firing device - pull fuze: normally connected to tripwire
USSR booby-trap firing device - pressure fuze: victim steps on loose floorboard with fuze concealed underneath

It can also be triggered by vehicles driving along a road, as in the case of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Chinese suicide bomber putting on an explosive vest made out of Model 24 hand grenades to use in an attack on Japanese tanks at the Battle of Taierzhuang (1938)

Explosive belt

Chinese suicide bomber putting on an explosive vest made out of Model 24 hand grenades to use in an attack on Japanese tanks at the Battle of Taierzhuang (1938)
A suicide vest captured by the Israel Defense Forces (2002)
A suicide belt captured by the Israel Defense Forces (2006)

An explosive belt (also called suicide belt or a suicide vest) is an improvised explosive device, a belt or a vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers.

Nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) disposal technicians taking part in a training exercise.

CBRN defense

Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence or CBRNE defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present.

Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence or CBRNE defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present.

Nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) disposal technicians taking part in a training exercise.
Toronto firefighters don CBRN suits at a HAZMAT incident
Members of the Irish Defence Forces and Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) at a CBRNE training exercise
U.S. Marines training exercise for temporary critical support to enable community recovery after a CBRNE incident

In the new millennium, the term CBRNe was introduced as an extension of CBRN - the e in this term representing the enhanced (improvised) explosives threat.

An amputee, seen here running with a blade prosthetic.

Amputation

Removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery.

Removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery.

An amputee, seen here running with a blade prosthetic.
An above-knee amputation
The 18th century guide to amputations
Partial amputation of index finger.
Transfemoral amputation due to liposarcoma
Three fingers from a soldier's right hand were traumatically amputated during World War I.
Curved knives such as this one were used, in the past, for some kinds of amputations.
Private Lewis Francis was wounded July 21, 1861, at the First Battle of Bull Run by a bayonet to the knee.

This type of injury has been especially common among soldiers wounded by improvised explosive devices in the Iraq War.