The process requires precision and steadiness
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IEDs typically have a detonator, a battery, a main charge, and a pressure plate that acts as a switch. While some may be covered in plastics, others are metal which could also turn into shrapnel is the device explodes.
“The digging process is very, very scary and very hard. It requires steadiness and self-confidence in order to do it,” Hassan said.
Even if a device doesn’t have an obvious switch, it’s usually loaded with chemicals that make it just as likely to explode, or worse, the switch could be hidden.
IEDs have killed more than 50,000 people over the past 10 years.
