Improvised explosive devices

Background

Antipersonnel IEDs typically also contain fragmentation-generating objects such as nails, ball bearings or even small rocks to cause wounds at greater distances than blast pressure alone could. Injuries caused by antipersonnel improvised explosive devices (AP-IED) to dismounted (pedestrian) soldiers and civilians were reported in BMJ Open to be far worse than those caused by conventional antipersonnel mines (APM), resulting in multiple limb amputations and lower body mutilation. This combination of injuries has been given the name "Dismounted Complex Blast Injury" and is thought to be the worst survivable injury ever seen in war.