Direct proof of use
Contemporary reporting from Baghdad identified sticky IEDs as magnetically attached bombs used by Iraqi insurgents during the 2003 Iraq War. The Washington Post reported in October 2008 that Iraqi and U.S. officials described increasing insurgent use of these devices to assassinate mid- and low-level Iraqi officials, with bombs attached to vehicle undersides and detonated away from the placement point.
A July 2009 UK Border Agency country report, drawing on UNHCR and Institute for War and Peace Reporting material, described under-vehicle explosive devices, or sticky bombs, as regularly used in Baghdad. The same report noted an increase since 2008 in assassinations of government and government-affiliated party officials using sticky bombs attached under vehicles.
Sources: Use of Sticky IEDs Rising in Iraq, UK Home Office Iraq COI Report 2009
Timeline
U.S. military officials told the Washington Post that magnetic bombs had appeared in Iraq sporadically since 2004, but that roughly 200 cases involving magnetic bombs had been investigated in 2008. The report framed the increase as part of a shift from mass-casualty attacks toward targeted intimidation and assassination as Iraqi state security institutions expanded their role.
By late 2008, reporting described sticky bombs as a routine Baghdad threat. Wired summarized the same trend in November 2008, noting that magnetic IEDs were reported as increasingly common in Iraq and had become an assassination weapon against government officials, local leaders, judges, journalists, and members of U.S.-backed Sunni armed groups.
Sources: Use of Sticky IEDs Rising in Iraq, Sticky Bombs Hit Baghdad
Operational role
In Iraq, the magnetic or sticky anti-vehicle bomb functioned mainly as a close-access assassination and intimidation weapon rather than as a battlefield anti-armor system. Sources describe attackers attaching small bombs to cars or other vehicles, often beneath the vehicle, so that the driver or passenger could be attacked after the vehicle moved away from the placement site.
The principal documented target set was Iraqi state and security-linked personnel. The Washington Post listed Iraqi government officials, army and police personnel, local leaders, judges, journalists, and members of U.S.-backed Sunni armed groups as targets. The UK report similarly linked sticky bombs to attacks on government officials, public servants, and official convoys.
Sources: Use of Sticky IEDs Rising in Iraq, UK Home Office Iraq COI Report 2009, Sticky Bombs Hit Baghdad
Attribution and users
The broad user category is Iraqi insurgent and militia forces. The Washington Post attributed the rising use to Iraqi insurgents and reported U.S. military intelligence comments about al-Qaeda in Iraq and other groups using the tactic for intimidation. Later Combating Terrorism Center analysis connected under-vehicle magnetic IEDs, or sticky bombs, to arms-cache evidence associated with Iranian-backed Special Groups, while describing their use in selective attacks on Iraqis.
The open sources do not reduce all sticky-bomb attacks to a single organization. They support a pattern of use by insurgent and militia networks across Baghdad and other Iraqi security environments, with specific incidents and caches pointing to different armed actors.
Sources: Use of Sticky IEDs Rising in Iraq, CTC Evolution of Iran's Special Groups in Iraq
