News – August 2025


  • Germany: Juvenile involved in Taylor Swift concert plot gets suspended sentence

    August 26, 2025

    A Berlin court on Tuesday gave a 16-year old who helped prepare a foiled attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year a suspended 1-1/2 year prison sentence under juvenile criminal law. Charges against the Syrian adolescent, who was 14 during the plot, were brought in June. At the time of the charges, he ...

  • India: One person arrested after four hand grenades, IED recovered in Punjab’s Batala

    August 26, 2025

    Batala police arrested a suspect linked to a Pakistan-backed terror module, seizing grenades and explosives, disrupting a cross-border conspiracy. The Batala police on Monday unearthed a Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence-backed terror module with the arrest of one person and seized four hand grenades, one RDX-based improvised explosive device (IED), and communication equipment, director general of police Gaurav ...

  • Estonia: Suspected Ukrainian combat drone parts found in Tartu County field

    August 26, 2025

    Parts of a suspected Ukrainian combat drone were found in a field on Monday after crashing in Estonian territory on Sunday morning, the Internal Security Service (ISS/KAPO) said. Pieces of the drone were found in a farmer’s field in Elva parish, Tartu County at around 3 p.m. on Monday, ISS Director General Margo Palloson said at ...

  • Vermont: Explosives triggered evacuations and road closure in Burlington

    August 25, 2025

    Police say explosive devices discovered at a Burlington apartment building triggered evacuations and an hourslong road closure in the city. A Burlington man is in jail for allegedly building bombs. And that’s what sparked a massive response from local, state and federal authorities on Sunday, closing down Pearl Street for more than seven hours while the ...

  • New York: Walton man arrested on charges of an explosive device

    August 25, 2025

    A Walton man has been arrested on charges of allegedly being in possession of an explosive device, drugs and a firearm. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office Road Patrol Division responded to reports of an individual threatening self-harm on August 6th. According to police Gerald Walke of Walton, NY, threatened to harm himself with the use of ...

  • AFRICA SHIELD 2025: Strengthening Counterproliferation Efforts Across Africa

    August 25, 2025

    From August 4-6, 2025, DTRA’s International Counterproliferation Program (ICP), in partnership with the EU CBRN CoE and UNICRI, hosted the AFRICA SHIELD 2025 Regional Counterproliferation Workshop in Rabat, Morocco. This inaugural workshop brought together nearly 100 participants from across the African continent, representing law enforcement, military, policy, and UNSCR-1540 national-level coordination. The workshop focused on enhancing ...

  • UK: Bomb team detonates artillery shell found on Drigg Beach

    August 25, 2025

    An artillery shell found on a beach has been detonated in a controlled explosion. Whitehaven Coastguard Rescue Team said the ordnance had been discovered on Drigg Beach in Cumbria on Sunday by a member of the public. It said the artillery shell was destroyed by a bomb disposal unit at 12:43 BST. The team thanked the ...

  • AFP bomb squad crafts IEDs to stay ahead of bad guys

    August 24, 2025

    Inside an electronics workshop in Australia’s capital territory there is a team of tech experts building bombs from scratch. They’re not terrorists; rather, a team of elite specialists making improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and then blowing them up. The mission is to get ahead of the bad guys. “The devices are constructed from the same materials, ...

  • Israel hits Houthis targets in Sanaa after reports group used missile carrying cluster munitions

    August 24, 2025

    Israel has carried out air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in response to the group’s missile attack on Friday which Israel said carried cluster munitions. The Israeli operation targeted a military complex housing the presidential palace, a fuel depot and power stations. Six people were killed and 86 injured, Houthi officials said. The ...

  • Ireland: Controlled explosion after historical device found at Sandymount Strand

    August 23, 2025

    The Army Bomb Squad conducted a controlled explosion after a device was found on Sandymount Strand on Friday. The device is understood to have been historical in nature. There were no reports of any injuries. “The Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team attended the scene and conducted a controlled explosion. There were no reports of injuries ...

  • Texas: Fort Hood sappers breaching future with unmanned technology

    August 22, 2025

    FORT HOOD, Texas — On the battlefield, enemy forces often attempt to slow or halt an advance by setting up blockades and obstacles. When that happens, it is the Army’s combat engineers who are called in to clear the way and ensure the mission can move forward. They have the means and ability to detonate ...

  • Pakistan: More than 30 terrorists killed while assembling IED inside a mosque in Bajaur

    August 22, 2025

    More than 30 suspected terrorists were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) they were assembling inside a mosque in Bajaur district went off on Thursday. The incident came hours after at least 15 suspected terrorists were eliminated in an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in South Waziristan district, officials and sources told The Express Tribune. Sources said ...

  • Germany: Spangdahlem EOD Hosts 2025 Eifel Krabben IED Rodeo

    August 21, 2025

    SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany – The 52nd Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight hosted 14 teams from 10 partner nations for the 2025 Eifel Krabben Improvised Explosive Device Rodeo exercise at Spangdahlem Air Base, Aug. 15- 21, 2025. The IED Rodeo is an annual, large-scale exercise that brings together more than 100 participants from NATO ...

  • Colombia: Car bomb attack on military base in Cali leaves at last six dead

    August 21, 2025

    A car bomb attack near the military school of Colombia’s Marco Fidel Suarez Air Base, in eastern Cali, left at least six people dead and several others injured. The explosion occurred around 3 p.m. in the vicinity of the military base. Although the authorities are still working on assessing the damage, the attack could have been ...

  • Philippines: Soldiers recover 17 bombs in South Cotabato, foil alleged rebel plot

    August 21, 2025

    Soldiers in South Cotabato recovered 17 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) believed to have been planted by communist rebels, preventing a possible attack in the province, the military said on Thursday. Troops from the Army’s 105th Infantry Battalion responded to reports from residents and members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) about suspicious items in ...

  • Colombia: Explosives-laden drone shots down helicopter eradicating coca crops in Antioquia

    August 21, 2025

    In a rural area of Antioquia, about 150 kilometers north of Medellín, a drone carrying explosives brought down a Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC) helicopter this morning. Although the number of fatalities has not yet been confirmed, reports indicate that at least twelve people were killed and another five were injured to varying degrees. Read more… Source: ColombiaOne News Sign ...

  • Italy: Suspect Is Arrested in Sabotage of Pipelines Between Russia and Germany

    August 21, 2025

    Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian national who German investigators believe coordinated the undersea bombing in 2022 of two gas pipelines that directly linked Russia to Germany, the German authorities said on Thursday. It was the first arrest in the act of sabotage that occurred as the war in Ukraine raged, a technically sophisticated attack that ...

  • UNOCT: Terror threat posed by ISIL ‘remains volatile and complex’

    August 20, 2025

    The threat posed by the terrorist group ISIL remains dynamic and diverse, with Africa currently experiencing the highest level of activity worldwide. While multiple ISIL leaders have perished in the past few years, “the group has managed to retain its operational capacity”, Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) told the Security Council ...

  • Mali: JNIM group says 21 soldiers killed in widescale attacks in Ségou Region

    August 20, 2025

    Al Qaeda-linked militants killed 21 soldiers during coordinated attacks in Mali on Tuesday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based non-governmental organization that tracks online reports by Islamist militants. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) said it captured two soldiers, seized 15 military vehicles and more than 50 weapons during the “widescale” operation. Mali’s army declined ...

  • Missouri: Springfield Bomb Squad detonates IED found during traffic stop

    August 20, 2025

    The Springfield Bomb Squad detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) found during a traffic stop in Aurora, Missouri. According to the Aurora-Marionville Police Department’s probable cause statement, an officer was on patrol on the evening of Aug. 19 when he noticed a truck blocking an alleyway. The officer spoke to the driver, Nicholas McKeever, 31, and ...

  • Happy 84th birthday EOD_16-9

    August 20, 2025

    The U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community celebrates its birthday on August 22, commemorating the graduation of the first Navy Mine Disposal class in 1941, which served as the foundation for all other U.S. military EOD programs. The history of U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) began during World War II in response to the threat ...

  • Haiti: Two police officers killed after weaponized ‘kamikaze’ drone explodes

    August 20, 2025

    Two Haitian police officers were killed and six others injured after a weaponized drone launched by a gang-fighting task force exploded in the hills above Port-au-Prince, near where an Irish missionary and several others were abducted by armed gangs. The accident Tuesday occurred after residents in Kenscoff found a so-called kamikazi drone and “in a gesture ...

  • Libya: Lack of funding hinders mine clearance despite efforts by international organizations

    August 20, 2025

    An analytical report published by the English-speaking Senegalese “African Press Agency” has highlighted the ongoing threat of explosive remnants of war in Libya, which have posed a direct danger to civilian lives since 2011. Widespread Presence of Unexploded Ordnance The report explained that tens of thousands of mines, improvised explosive devices, and heavy shells remain scattered ...

  • DR Congo rebels killed 140 civilians despite peace process

    August 20, 2025

    M23 rebels killed at least 140 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last month in one of the worst atrocities by the armed group since its resurgence in late 2021, Human Rights Watch has said in a report. This is despite a peace process, brokered by the US and Qatar, to end the conflict in ...