Mobius report 82/2022 – Sources of HE used in IEDs in Myanmar

On August 3, 2022, the Myaung Women Warriors – an armed group affiliated with the People’s Defense Force that operates in Myaung Township, in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Myanmar – released footage of their operatives preparing IEDs. The IEDs were uniform in design, comprising a cylindrical metal casing, with an ammonium nitrate – aluminum powder HME mixture as the main charge explosive, and a commercial plastic explosive incorporated in the booster charge. During 2022, various armed groups opposed to the Burmese military regime throughout Myanmar were documented making increasing use of ANAL mixtures, and additional high explosives, in their IED main charge explosive preparations. The brisant high explosives, which appeared in booster charges, as well as main charges, are of different types and come from different sources – some commercial, from neighboring countries, and some military, scavenged from old Myanmar Army UXO or stockpiles. The increasing use of these powerful explosives can be expected to make IEDs manufactured in Myanmar more powerful and effective, especially when compared with the pyrotechnic materials and low explosives predominantly evidenced to date.