Unreported World

Baghdad Bomb Squad (2012x2)

Air date: Apr 20, 2012

nreported World gains unprecedented and exclusive access to the Baghdad Bomb Squad. Nine years after the invasion and with the British and the Americans gone, Iraq still faces almost daily attacks from those trying to foment political chaos and sectarian hatred. Reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and director Alex Nott spend time with a small band of brave Iraqi officers trying to prevent further murderous attacks. With modest resources and great courage in the face of terrible danger, four 12-man squads work around the clock defusing bombs or investigating crime scenes where a device has detonated. The Unreported World team joins one team as they begin a morning shift, when the bombers are at their busiest. Twenty-nine year old officer Rawad Yassin, who has already spent six years in the bomb squad, tells Guru-Murthy that his family have urged him to leave the unit but he feels a responsibility to his fellow officers. Travelling in convoy they are called out to the suburb of Karrada. They believe they are heading to an unexploded device but on arrival find the aftermath of detonated device. The target was a senior military commander in charge of the Ministry of Communications Protection Force. Several of his staff have been killed, and more than a dozen injured. As the team head off, reports come in of other bombings around Baghdad. Another unit finds an unexploded device right outside Iraq's Oil Ministry. Unreported World reveals extraordinary footage showing how a 'sticky bomb', which is fixed under the car of a Brigadier General, is made safe. In the last two years more than 30 bomb disposal experts have been killed across Iraq. Guru-Murthy speaks to someone close to one of those killed trying to defuse a vehicle bomb. Ali Hameed shows Guru-Murthy video footage of the incident which left his partner Ali Latif with terrible injuries. Hameed says since the incident he's been living with severe psychological stress. The bomb squad believes Sunni extremist