(EXPLOSIVE HAZARD) IED FOUND/CLEARED RPT (RCIED) TF PALADIN : 0 INJ/DAM

EOD team on FOB ABAD was notified by the ABEL TOC that ANP had found an IED near the main JABAD-ABAD road in Chowkay (42SXD7170737855). EOD departed for the IED site and received a briefing from the ANP commander that was in charge of securing the site. The ANP commander said that his team had found the IED earlier in the morning while sweeping the roadway. He said that the IED was near the mouth of a culvert on the west side of the road. Once the culvert was identified, EOD had their security team move the Local Nationals that had built up around the area out to a safe distance and secure the north side of the road. ANP forces and a U.S. element that had been moving north on the road when ANP stopped them secured the south side of the road. EOD moved their vehicle to an area that provided good ECM coverage of the area and then deployed their robot down to the IED site to recon the area. Due to the steep incline and the loose rocks surrounding the culvert the robot threw a track and tipped over into a ditch. The EOD team was able to see the IED with the cameras on the robot before it tipped over and identified 1ea. Chinese 130mm HE rocket with what appeared to be an RC receiver box (approximately 8L X 3W X 2H ) wrapped in yellow plastic packing tape attached to the top of the rocket. The EOD team was able to right the robot back onto its base but could not drive it out of the ditch because of the thrown track. The EOD team moved the robot as far away from the IED as possible and the EOD Team Leader donned the bomb suit to recover the robot and place a disruption charge near the IED. The EOD Team Leader recovered the robot and then lowered the disruption charge down next to the IED using the road and the top of the culvert for cover. The EOD team detonated the disruption charge and the IED sympathetically detonated as well. The culvert and roadway sustained no damage due to the blast because of the small amount of explosives contained in the IED (130mm rocket N.E.W. = 6.6lbs) and its placement at the mouth of the culvert. The EOD Team Leader returned to the IED site wearing the bomb suit and using a mine detector swept the area for secondary devices. No other devices were found. The EOD team swept the area for evidence of the device but nothing was found. EOD turned the area back over to the ANP commander and departed in route back to FOB ABAD. Mission Complete.