In early February 2022, security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo neutralized a booby-trapped corpse placed by militants of the Islamic State’s Central Africa Province on the side of a road near the village of Mukoko, north of the city of Oicha, in North Kivu Province, in the northeast of the country. The corpse was fitted with a clothespin-based anti-pull switch, designed to initiate a small IED if the body was moved or lifted. The booby-trapping of corpses is a unique TTP used both by jihadists and criminals in different arenas over the past decade, and is primarily aimed at targeting first responders and security forces arriving to assist in either a real or fabricated crime scene. The choice of a victim-operated mechanism placed on the corpse serves to increase the chances of an effective attack and enables the use of a relatively small amount of explosives. In the DRC, this TTP, which has already been employed in a number of incidents in the past two years, is a new development likely explained by the strengthening of the local Islamic State affiliate, in tandem with a possible influx of foreign militants or knowledge into the arena. In the most recent incident, casualties were likely averted due to the preparedness of security forces.
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