Pentagon says it has reduced bomb casualties

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has made it a top priority to find new means to counter roadside bombs -- the biggest killer of U.S. forces in Iraq -- and some of its latest improvements in training and equipment are saving lives.

The number of bombs planted against U.S. troops has more than tripled in the last two years and now averages around 1,200 a month. But nearly half of these improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, as the military calls them, are found and disarmed before they explode, and most explosions cause no injuries or deaths.

"In spite of a very large increase in the incidents, the casualty rate has remained fairly constant," said retired Gen. Montgomery Meigs, director of the Joint IED Defeat Organization. The enemy "is having to triple or quadruple his effort to get the same casualty effectiveness. ... Most of it doesn't work."

About 75% of those wounded in the blasts return to duty within 72 hours, evidence that heavier armor on vehicles and other protective measures are saving lives, Meigs said.

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