Car bomb

It is commonly used as a weapon of terrorism or guerrilla warfare to kill people near the blast site or to damage buildings or other property.

[3] Car bombs are activated in a variety of ways, including opening the vehicle's doors, starting the engine, remote detonation, depressing the accelerator or brake pedals, or simply lighting a fuse or setting a timing device.

[9][10][11] While not an adaptation of a people-carrying vehicle, the WW2 German Goliath remote control mine shares many parallels with a vehicle-based IED.

[12] Prior to the 20th century, bombs planted in horse carts had been used in assassination plots, notably the unsuccessful "machine infernale" attempt to kill Napoleon on 24 December 1800.

Car bombing was a significant part of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) campaign during The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

[14][15][16] PIRA Chief of Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin defines the car bomb as both a tactical and a strategic guerrilla warfare weapon.

Strategically, it disrupts the ability of the enemy government to administer the country, and hits simultaneously at the core of its economic structure by means of massive destruction.

From a tactical point of view, it ties down a large number of security forces and troops around the main urban areas of the region in conflict.

[17] Car bombs are effective weapons as they are an easy way to transport a large number of explosives to a target.

A car bomb also produces copious shrapnel, or flying debris, and secondary damage to bystanders and buildings.

The entrance to Downing Street in London has been closed since 1991 in reaction to the Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign, preventing the public from approaching Number 10.

[21] In the Iraqi and Syrian Civil War, the car bomb concept was modified so that it could be driven and detonated by a driver but armoured to withstand incoming fire.

Ordinary civilian cars were outfitted with armour plating intended to protect the VBIED as it approached its target.

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.