Among the most lethal Iranian IEDs were the explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs. They were shaped charges with a concave end, which sent a molten copper slug through targets such as armored vehicles, and then created a deadly spray of hot metal. “EFPs are really bad,” recalled Brian Castner, the head of a US explosive ordnance disposal unit in Iraq. “They take off legs and heads, put holes in armor and engine blocks, and our bosses in Baghdad and Washington want every one we find.”42 Between July 2005 and December 2011, a startling 1,534 EFPs killed 196 US and coalition troops and wounded
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