IS forcing children, disabled into suicide cars: US general

TIL Desk/World/Washington-Islamic State jihadists are forcing children and disabled people into explosives-laden trucks and making them drive at Iraqi security forces in Mosul, a general from the US-led coalition has said.   The barbaric tactic, coupled with other increasingly desperate battlefield measures, is a sign the IS group knows defeat is inevitable, officials say.

The jihadists have used exploding trucks, known in military circles as VBIEDs — vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices — and pronounced “Vee-Bids,” to devastating effect in numerous engagements during the Mosul offensive and elsewhere in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad this week, US Air Force Brigadier General Matt Isler said the IS group had adopted coercive new techniques in its use of suicide car bombs because the jihadists appear to be running out of willing drivers. “We saw people being led to a VBIED, being put in (it) and being chained in the VBIED,” he said. “We’ve seen children put in VBIEDs as drivers, people that aren’t able to walk… I don’t know if they signed up for this service.”