Spain said it would create a center for studying homemade bombs used by extremists and guerrilla movements in Afghanistan , Iraq and Lebanon. The center "will study the deactivation and neutralization mechanisms" on improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the defense ministry said in a statement.
Such devices are used mainly in places like Afghanistan and Lebanon, where Spain has deployed soldiers, as well as Iraq where they have claimed hundreds of lives among coalition and Iraqi forces. The center's work should help "strengthen the security measures for military missions" outside Spain. The ministry said it would invest three million euros (4.2 million dollars) in the centre, which will house 40 experts in the Hoyo de Manzanares suburb of Madrid. The aim is for the centre to become the top authority world-wide on the subject, and Madrid plans to propose that NATO integrate it into its structure.
Six soldiers including three Spaniards serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, were killed in June whan a car bomb struck their personnel carrier as they patrolled a road near the Israeli border. |