This petition was submitted during the 2010-2015 parliament
Rejected petition British soldiers are dying in Afghanistan trying to locate Taliban Improvised Explosive devices when it could be done by machines. This must change!
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A recent BBC1 documentary stated that The Taliban’s Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) resulted in 2010 in the death or injury of nearly 8500 coalition troops and is No 1 killer of British troops in Afghanistan. In the British army, “Searchers” locate IED’s so that Bomb disposal operators can then dismantle them, untriggered.
A Searcher’s job is simply to locate IED’s. To do this, searchers walk on untested ground carrying bomb detectors in front of them. They also probe suspicious ground with their bare fingers. As a result, in the last 3 months, two searchers have been killed, and a further 5 have lost limbs.
Searchers are being killed and maimed in Afghanistan unnecessarily. The MOD must use robots and machines instead to locate IEDs.
This petition was rejected
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