Pentagon officials have confirmed that ISIS terrorists in Iraq are creating vehicles akin to Hollywood director George Miller’s “Mad Max” movies.
More than 60 vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) have been destroyed by U.S. coalition forces as they try to liberate the city for the first time since June 2014. Col. John Dorrian, speaking from Baghdad to reporters in the Pentagon, showed evidence of the deadly custom fabrications on Wednesday.
“It’s reminiscent of a Mad Max vehicle, with armored plating in the front to protect the driver until he can detonate the explosives he’s carrying on board,” Col. Dorrian said, the Washington Examiner first reported. “The coalition has used strikes mostly from the air to destroy these anywhere that they can be found.”
The officer said hundreds of modified trucks have also been destroyed since operations commenced in mid-October.
U.S. backed forces are in their second month of operations to retake Mosul. ISIS has been pushed from Mosul’s eastern limits, but progress has been slow along the northern and southern fronts.
Experts say the U.S.-led coalition forces’ 100,000 troops will eventually root out up to 6,000 ISIS terrorists, but military operations are expected to last months.
SEE ALSO: U.S. bombed Mosul terrorists every 8 minutes for 3 days at battle’s start, official says
“For ISIS, Mosul is survival,” Brig. Gen. Halgurd Hikmet, a spokesman for the Peshmerga, or Kurdish forces, told CNN on Wednesday in regards to its unwillingness to surrender.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.