Combating the IED threat
Manama : Counter-IED efforts took centre stage at a key conference held here yesterday by the Gulf nations, which also mulled creating a GCC ‘Centre of Excellence’ for the purpose.
The centre, once formed, will act as a hub for sharing information and training counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) measures, according to officials at the conference.
However, it was later revealed that the decisions regarding this will not be taken here.
“No decision will be made here now, as we will be hosting another conference around November-December and a decision could be made there,” said Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Price, Defence Attaché at British Embassy in Bahrain to DT News.
This was revealed during the United Kingdom/Gulf cooperation council (UK/GCC) counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) conference held here yesterday.
Meanwhile, Brigadier, Gareth Collett CBE, Defence Attache at the British Embassy in Baghdad told DT News that the UK would encourage forming such a centre.
He, however, said that this is the first time the Gulf Cooperation Council nations have come together to discuss the threats posed by IEDs.
“The conference is all about enabling troops to counter IEDs effectively with equipment, tactics, techniques and procedures while gathering biometric and forensic evidence,” he said highlighting the need to close down its networks.
“By networks, I mean those who make them, the people who finance them, the people who supply them and such,” he explained.
The Defence Attache, however, warned that those suppliers and financiers could be from outside the GCC countries.
“So by sharing information, we will bring an effective system in place at least to minimise the effect of the IEDs,” the Brigadier said.
When asked about the challenges faced by the GCC countries, Collett told DT News that the real threat lies in the pace at which the IED development is proceeding in terrorist organisations.
“What we need here is a system to share information to find out ‘How these IEDs are proliferating’,” he said.
The move, according to the Defence Attache, will also facilitate the formation of a ‘GCC Centre of Excellence’ where people can come together, train together and share common understandings to defeat these malicious devices.
The conference will continue for its second day today.
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