Acar bomb,bus bomb,van bomb,lorry bomb, ortruck bomb, also known as avehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED),[1] is animprovised explosive device designed to be detonated in anautomobile or other vehicles.
Car bombs can be roughly divided into two main categories: those used primarily to kill the occupants of the vehicle (often as anassassination) and those used as a means to kill, injure or damage people and buildings outside the vehicle. The latter type may be parked (the vehicle disguising the bomb and allowing the bomber to get away), or the vehicle might be used to deliver the bomb (often as part of asuicide bombing).
It is commonly used as a weapon ofterrorism orguerrilla warfare to kill people near the blast site or to damage buildings or other property.[2] Car bombs act as their own delivery mechanisms and can carry a relatively large amount ofexplosives without attracting suspicion. In larger vehicles and trucks, weights of around 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) or more have been used, for example, in theOklahoma City bombing.[3] Car bombs are activated in a variety of ways, including opening the vehicle's doors, starting the engine, remote detonation, depressing the accelerator or brake pedals, or simply lighting a fuse or setting a timing device.[4] The gasoline in the vehicle's fuel tank may make the explosion of the bomb more powerful by dispersing and igniting the fuel.
Car bombs have been used for attacks motivated by a wide variety of grievances and ideologies, by people and groups from a wide variety of cultural and religious backgrounds: left wing,right wing,Jewish, Catholic,Shia,Sunni, and others.[5][6][7][additional citation(s) needed]
Car bombs are preceded by the 16th centuryhellburners, explosive-laden ships which were used to deadly effect by the besiegedDutch forces inAntwerp against the besiegingSpanish. Though using a less refined technology, the basic principle of the hellburner is similar to that of the car bomb.[according to whom?]
Car bombs were also preceded byanimal bombs using horses and cows, then eventually emerging into car use.[5]Prior to the 20th century, bombs planted in horse carts had been used in assassination plots, notably the unsuccessful "machine infernale" attempt to killNapoleon on 24 December 1800.[according to whom?]Mario Buda's improvised wagon used in the 1920Wall Street bombing is considered a prototype of the car bomb.[5]
The first reported car bombing was theBath School bombings inMichigan, USA in 1927. Multiple separate explosions on the same day killed 45 people, including the bomber, and half of a school was destroyed.[according to whom?]The bombings were all carried out byAndrew Kehoe, motivated by apersonal grievance. His death was possibly an intentionalsuicide, but the cause of the explosion was a gun shot that might not have been intended to set off the load. The explosion itself did not seem to form part of asuicide attack on a specific planned target other than possibly himself and his truck.The explosives in his truck detonated when he saw two men nearby had a gun, after he set off multiple other bombs.[8][9]The explosion may have been set off indirectly by him firing his own gun at the men.[7][10]Most of the deaths were caused by the earlier bombs.[11][12]
While not an adaptation of a people-carrying vehicle, the WW2 GermanGoliath remote control mine shares many parallels with a vehicle-basedIED. It approached a target (often a tank or another armoured vehicle) at speed before exploding, destroying itself and the target. It was armoured so that it could not be destroyed en route. However, it was not driven by a person, instead operated by remote control from a safe distance.[19]
The first non-suicide car bombing "fully conceptualized as a weapon of urban warfare" came on 12 January 1947 when theLehi (also known asStern Gang), aZionist paramilitary organization,bombed the Haifa police station.[5]On 4 January 1948, a Lehi car bomb inJaffa killed 70 Palestinian Arabs.[20]
Car bombing was a significant part of theProvisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) campaign duringThe Troubles inNorthern Ireland.Dáithí Ó Conaill is credited with introducing the car bomb toNorthern Ireland.[6] Car bombs were also used byUlster loyalist groups (for example, by theUVF during theDublin and Monaghan bombings).[21][22][23][24]PIRA Chief of StaffSeán Mac Stíofáin defines the car bomb as both a tactical and a strategic guerrilla warfare weapon. Strategically, it disrupts the ability of the enemy government to administer the country, and hits simultaneously at the core of its economic structure by means of massive destruction. From a tactical point of view, it ties down a large number of security forces and troops around the main urban areas of the region in conflict.[25]
Mass-casualty suicide car bombings are predominantly associated[who?] with the Middle East, particularly in recent decades.[according to whom?][citation needed]
Car bombs are effective weapons as they are an easy way to transport a large number of explosives to a target. A car bomb also produces copiousshrapnel, or flying debris, and secondary damage to bystanders and buildings. In recent years, car bombs have become widely used by suicide bombers.[32][33][34]
In theIraqi andSyrian Civil War, the car bomb concept was modified so that it could be driven and detonated by a driver but armoured to withstand incoming fire. The vehicle would be driven to its target area, in a similar fashion to akamikaze plane ofWW2.[36] These were known by the acronym SVBIED (from Suicide Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device) or VBIEDs. Ordinary civilian cars were outfitted with armour plating intended to protect the VBIED as it approached its target.[36] Such SVBIEDs were driven into enemy troop areas or incoming enemy columns.[37] Most often, the SVBIEDs were used byISIL against Government forces, but also used by Syrian rebels (FSA andallied militias, especially theAl-Nusra Front) against government troops.[38]
The vehicles have become more sophisticated, with armour plating on the vehicle, protected vision slits, armour plating over the wheels so they would withstand being shot at and occasionally additionalmetal grating over the front of the vehicle designed to crush or destroy incomingshaped charges such as those used onrocket propelled grenades.[39]
Trucks were sometimes used to start an assault, and benefitted from their greater storage space that could contain very heavy explosives.[40] Animal drawn carts, typically pulled by horse or mule, have also been used.[41][42] Tactically, a single vehicle may be used, or an initial "breakthrough" vehicle, then followed by another vehicle.[43]
While many car bombs are disguised as ordinary vehicles,[44] some that are used against military forces haveimprovised vehicle armour attached to prevent the driver from being shot when attacking a fortified outpost.[45]
TSA officers view the post-blast remains of aDodge Neon after an explosive was detonated inside it during training.
Car bombs and detonators function in a diverse manner of ways and there are numerous variables in the operation and placement of the bomb within the vehicle. Earlier and less advanced car bombs were often wired to the car's ignition system, but this practice is now considered more laborious and less effective than other more recent methods, as it requires a greater amount of work for a system that can often be quite easilydefused. While it is more common nowadays for car bombs to be fixedmagnetically to the underside of the car, underneath the passenger or driver's seat, or inside of themudguard, detonators triggered by the opening of the vehicle door or by pressure applied to the brakes or accelerating pedals are also used.[4]
Bombs operating by the former method of fixation to the underside of the car more often than not make use of a device called atilt fuse. A small tube made of glass or plastic, the tilt fuse is similar in operation to amercury switch or medical tablet tube. One end of the fuse will be filled withmercury, while the other open end is wired with the ends of an open circuit to an electrical firing system. When the tilt fuse moves or is jerked, the supply of mercury will flow to the top of the tube and close the circuit. Thus, as the vehicle goes through the regular bumping and dipping that comes with driving over a terrain, the circuit is completed, and the explosive is detonated.[4]
Car bombs are effective as booby traps because they also leave very little evidence. When an explosion happens, it is difficult for forensics to find any evidence because things either denigrate or become charred.[5]
As a safety mechanism to protect the bomber, the placer of the bomb may rig atiming device incorporated with the circuit to activate the circuit only after a certain time period, therefore ensuring the bomber will not accidentally activate the bomb before they are able to get clear of the blast radius.[4]
Although it has never been officially acknowledged, the AmericanCIA has occasionally been accused of being behind car bombings. One such attack was the failed assassination attempt on Grand AyatollahMohammad Hussein Fadlallah in theBeirut car bombing on 8 March 1985. Although there has been widespread speculation of CIA involvement, this has never been proven conclusively.
A 2005 car bombing in Iraq, in which a second car bomb was detonated whileUS forces were investigating the scene of an earlier such blast, resulting in 18 casualties.
TheIraqi insurgency. An estimated 578 car bombs were detonated in Iraq between June 2003 and June 2006.
TheIslamic State, which has employed armored explosive-ladencrossovers, full-sizedpickup trucks, andSUVs as suicidal tactical units to breach enemy defensive fronts in Syria and Iraq. The use of armored tractors andhaul trucks was also recorded over the course of the war.
Militants and criminals inIndia occasionally utilize car bombs in attacks. This includes Muslim,Sikh,Kashmiri andNaxalite militants, as well as rival politicians within the government andorganized crime. A notable recent attack was the25 August 2003 Mumbai bombings, in which two car bombs killed 54 people. The attack was claimed by the Pakistani-backed Kashmiri separatist groupLashkar-e-Taiba.
ThePakistani Taliban have occasionally used car bombs in their ongoing conflict with the government of Pakistan.
1927: TheBath School disaster —Andrew Kehoe used a detonator to ignitedynamite and hundreds ofpounds ofpyrotol which he had secretly planted inside a school. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and theschool superintendent, and killing and injuring several others.[citation needed] In total, Kehoe killed 44 people and injured 58, making the Bath School bombing the deadliest act ofmass murder in a school in U.S. history.[citation needed]
Palestinian writerGhassan Kanafani was assassinated by a car bomb on 8 July 1972 with his 17-year-old niece Lamees Najim inBeirut by the IsraeliMossad.
FormerChilean GeneralCarlos Prats was killed by a car bomb on September 30, 1974, along with his wife.
Freelance terroristCarlos the Jackal claimed responsibility for three car bomb attacks on French newspapers accused of pro-Israeli bias during the 1970s.
Cleveland mobsterDanny Greene frequently used car bombs against his enemies, beginning in 1968. Afterwards, they also began to be used against Greene and his associates. The use of car bombs in Cleveland peaked in 1976, when 36 bombs exploded in the city, most of them car bombs, causing it to be nicknamed "Bomb City." Several people, including innocent bystanders, were killed or wounded. Greene himself was finally killed in a car bomb explosion himself, on October 6, 1977.
TheTamil Tigers ofSri Lanka frequently made use of car bombs during that country'scivil war in a campaign which lasted from 1976 until the group's defeat in 2009.
From 1979 to early 1983, under the guise of theFront for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners,Israel Defense Forces commandersRafael Eitan, Avigdor Ben-Gal and Meir Dagan launched a campaign of bombings, including car, bicycle, and even donkey bombs. Initially conducted as a response tothe killing of Israeli civilians at Nahariya. Largely indiscriminate in its targeting of those associated with thePalestine Liberation Organization in south, Lebanon, the FLLF attacks killed hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese, mainly inTyre, Lebanon,Sidon and the surrounding PLO run refugee camps. After 1981, as part of Ariel Sharon's policy of goading the PLO into committing more acts of terror, justifying a military response, FLLF attacks escalated in intensity and scope, spreading to Beirut and northern Lebanon by September. The FLLF even took credit for fictional attacks on the IDF to maintain its cover as a Lebanese organisation.[57] Its most prominent attack on October 1, 1981, in West Beirut killed at least 50 and injured over 250 people. Seven other similar bombs were found and defused before they could explode.[58]
The GermanRed Army Faction occasionally used car bombs, such as in an unsuccessful attempt to attack aNATO school for officers in 1984.
The Basque separatist groupEuskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) attempted their first car bomb assassination in September 1985 and carried out at least 80 massive car bomb attacks in Spain during the last decade before putting its activities on hold in 2011.[59]
Constable Angela Taylor died on her way to collect lunch, the sole fatality of theRussell Street bombing in Melbourne, Australia on 27 March 1986. 22 others were injured.
Suicide car bombs were a regular feature against Israel in the1982 Lebanon War which lasted from 1982 until Israel's withdrawal in 2000. The bombing campaign was waged by several groups, most prominentlyHezbollah.
In the 1980s, the Colombian drug lordPablo Escobar used vehicle bombs extensively against government forces and population centers inColombia andLatin America. The most notable car bombing attack was the 1989DAS Building bombing, which killed 63 and injured about 1,000. Also, on July 4, 1989, a car bomb killed governor of AntioquiaAntonio Roldán Betancur and five others; a prominent member of Escobar's Medellin Cartel later confessed to the crime.
On 26 February 1993, (World Trade Center bombing) Islamist terrorists led byRamzi Yousef detonated a Ryder van filled with explosives in the parking garage of theWorld Trade Center inNew York City. Yousef's plan had been to cause one of the towers to collapse into the other, destroying both and killing thousands of people. Although this was not achieved, six people were killed, 1,042 others injured, and extensive damage was caused.
On 18 April 1993, a tanker containing 500 kilograms of explosives exploded near the mosque inVitez, destroying the offices of the Bosnian War Presidency, killing at least six people and injuring 50 others. TheICTY accepted that this action was a piece of pureterrorism committed by elements within theCroat forces, as an attack on the Bosniak population of Stari Vitez -Vitez old town.HVO members tied aBosniak male civilian from a concentration camp to the steering wheel and set the truck in motion towards the old town.[61]
TheQuebec Biker War that lasted from 1994 to 2002 involved the use of car bombings, including one that killed a drug dealer and an 11-year-old boy on 9 August 1995.
Southeast Asia-based militant Islamist groupJemaah Islamiyah utilized car bombs in their campaigns during the early 2000s, the most prominent being the2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.
On11 December 2010, a car bomb exploded in centralStockholm inSweden, slightly injuring two bystanders. Twelve minutes later, an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen accidentally detonated six pipe bombs he was carrying, but only one exploded.[62] The bomber was killed but there were no other casualties. It is believed that the attacks were the work of homegrown terrorists who were protesting Sweden's involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the publication in Sweden of cartoons depictingMuhammad.
In 2013, Afghan security forces intercepted a truck bomb deployed by theHaqqanis. It was the largest truck bomb ever built, with some 61,500 lbs of explosives.[64][65] It was ultimately defused. The bomb was over 10 times the size of the car bomb used on the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. While the bomb was not detonated, it caused security changes throughout the region and the closure of the US Army base FOB Goode near Gardez.[66]
On 30 August 2016, Kurdish female soldier from YPJ,Asia Ramazan Antar, was killed inManbij offensive, when ISIS suicide bombers drove cars filled with explosives towards the Kurdish front.
On 14 November 2021, acar bomb exploded outside of a women's hospital inLiverpool after a man detonated an IED suicide vest inside a taxi, killing him and severely injuring the driver.[68]
In late February 2023, it was reported that theRussian Army attempted to use aMT-LB filled withOFAB-100-120 aerial bombs and mine-clearing charges from theUR-77 vehicle against Ukrainian positions.[71]
On 18 June 2023, the Russian Army was documented as using aT-55 tank filled with approximately 6 tons of high explosives against entrenchedUkrainian Forces nearMarinka,Donetsk Oblast with the intent of clearing the trenches.[72][73]
On 10 September 2023, it was reported that Ukraine's128th Mountain Assault Brigade converted a capturedT-62 tank into a VBIED filled with 1.5 tons of explosives and drove it against Russian positions in theZaporizhzhia region. The tank hit a mine and exploded before it could reach the enemy positions.[74][75]
On 13 July 2024,Thomas Matthew Crooksattempted to assassinateDonald Trump, the former president of the United States, at a campaign rally nearButler, Pennsylvania. Crooks attempt was unsuccessful and he was killed in the process. Following his death, investigators found explosive devices in the trunk of his car, suggesting he planned to set off an explosion remotely as a possible distraction.[76]
On January 1, 2025, at approximately 8:39 a.m. PST, aTesla Cybertruck exploded outside the main entrance of the Trump International Hotel inLas Vegas. The driver, identified as 37-year-old U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant Matthew Alan Livelsberger from Colorado Springs, Colorado, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound just before the explosion. Seven bystanders sustained minor injuries from the blast.[77]
On May 17, 2025, at approximately 10:52 a.m. PDT, a silver 2010 Ford Fusion sedan loaded with explosivesdetonated outside the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic inPalm Springs, California, resulting in the death of the perpetrator and injuries to four others.[78]
On November 10, 2025, at approximately 6:52 p.m. a carHyundai i20 exploded near theRed Fort Metro Station inDelhi, India, killing at least thirteen people and more than 20 people were injured.
^abIn the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased(Transcript of the May 23–25, 1927 Clinton County, Michigan Coroner's Inquest), State of Michigan, May 23–25, 1927, pp. 107, 135, 326, 328
^In the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased(Transcript of the May 23–25, 1927 Clinton County, Michigan Coroner's Inquest), State of Michigan, May 23–25, 1927, p. 326
^In the Matter of the Inquest as to the Cause of Death of Emery E. Huyck, Deceased(Transcript of the May 23–25, 1927 Clinton County, Michigan Coroner's Inquest), State of Michigan, May 23–25, 1927, p. 352
^Ellsworth, Monty J. (1927)."Chapter Two– Writer's Experience".The Bath School Disaster. Bath School Museum Committee (1991 ed.). Archived from the original on October 24, 2017. RetrievedSeptember 21, 2018.
^"Donkey suicide bomb stopped by Israeli troops in Gaza".The Telegraph (London). 18 July 2014.Israeli military officials say Friday night's incident was a variant of what they say is Hamas' tactic of using "human shields" to carry out "terrorist" activity. "They used this donkey as a human shield…" said Major Arye Shalicar, an army spokesman … it is not the first recorded use of donkeys and other animals in the long-runningIsraeli–Palestinian conflict. Several attempted donkey-assisted attacks were reported in theWest Bank and Gaza during the second Palestinian intifada [uprising] of 2000-2005. Other incidents have been recorded in recent years, including one in 2009 whenmilitants approached theKarni crossing betweenGaza and Israel with horses carrying mines and explosives.
^Persico, Tomer (10 April 2016)."Would pre-state Zionist militias be terrorists by today's standards?".+972 Magazine.In July 1939, Jewish militants placed bombs at Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, killing five Arabs and wounding 14. That same month, a donkey mounted with explosives killed 21 Arabs and wounded 24 in the Haifa vegetable market.
^Olson, Dean (2012).Tactical Counterterrorism the Law Enforcement Manual of Terrorism Prevention. Springfield: Charles C Thomas.ISBN9780398087234.p.166
