An improvised explosive device made from a 155 mm artillery shell detonated while Iraqi soldiers were attempting to defuse it. The incident was recorded by a FLIR thermal imager mounted on an AH-64D Apache helicopter.

the dude on the intercom 😭

This fg stepped on hidden detonator. They forgot to do a circle ⭕️ with hand to see if wire are leading away from the bomb setup for vehicle tires. He stepped on that shit.

Just too many people defusing a single mine 😞 Never a good idea.

My ranked teammates trying to defuse with 4 seconds left

A crowd is the preferred method for defusing a large explosive

Don't defuse ... Just bomb it

Step 1 - Crowd as many people as possible around the UXE.

This is the moment they were alive and dead at the same time

People often wonder what goes through your mind when a bomb goes off right in front of you. I’m here to tell you - shrapnel.

They were neither trying to disarm it nor trying to plant an IED. This was a 155mm shell they were trying to dig out and recover to use to make an IED. So many confidently wrong people on this one.

To everyone saying it was insurgents, did you not listen to the audio? The pilot is specifically stating they were militia and getting confirmation from a ground controller of the same. It was Iraqi militia. Also, EOD is the ultimate self selecting profession. You get judged by your survival.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure "dry humping" the IED doesn't disarm it

To be fair, they did end up defusing it…

RIP...hope it was quick for them.

Not soldiers and they weren't trying to defuse it. They were insurgents trying to emplace the IED.

We blew up many insurgents planting IED’s & snipers with 500 lb and 2000 lb JDAM’s in 2009 OIF & OEF & 2012 OEF.

So many things wrong here. First, that's not thermal. Second, those are not Iraqis soliders, it's insurgents planting the IED.

Why not just put a charge down and blow it in place?

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Nothing left but hair, teeth and eyeballs...if that.

I'll bet the guy that walked up on them at the end wishes he had not - we'll we'll never know.... what was the last thing that went through his mind as he was dieing? a: "metal frag"

Oh, oh. These 2 aren't wearing helmets.

Pink mist.

truly eloquent arguments from @realcoofy in this chat; when you ask for explanation and the answer is "Because I know" and an insult I think we all know who the real "cockgoblin" is. Here is the video of Iraqi militia in this video from ten years ago....

What a weird thing to do. Diddling around with an IED. If you dont follow protocol, but instead start to "think"- Then you deserve what is coming for you.

Darwin doing his thing. 😎

Why not blow it up from a distance?

I remember a Brit engineer stepping on a anti tank mine, misted and blown away with the wind, he was cutting off the pressure plate, another engineer asked for a pen, he took his pen out took a small step to throw it. And it went off.

But why :( . They should simply detonate it from the distance if they were not skilled enough to defuse it properly. What they tried to do😥

Fuck defusing it, just blow it up from a safe distance

That last had terrible timing 😂

Why not just leave it? Looked like they were doing CPR

Damn, at least it was a quick death...