On ya bike Osama!

Independent photojournalist Sasha Uzunov writes:

Not content with making mayhem using car and truck bombs, the Iraqi resistence movement has taken to using peddle power against Western forces. The US and Australian military in Iraq are now concerned at the use of bicycle bombs against its troops and civilians.

I was contacted this week by concerned soldiers serving in Iraq. They heard on the grapevine that I was interviewed by Derryn Hinch on radio 3AW last week about Australian soldiers in Timor being denied the use of their mobile phones. So they have tipped me off about concerns in Iraq.

The fear is that copycat terrorists in Europe, or Australia could also use the bike bomb, capitalising on its apparently innocuous nature. A bike bomb would not be regarded as suspicious if left at railway stations, shopping centres or anywhere else here in Australia, unlike a bag or package.

Soldiers have told me that the explosives are hidden inside the bike pump or water bottle and even in the front night light on the handle bars.

Hugo says: The bike bomb is not an unheard of phenomenon. The Washington Post reports today that a Greek leftist group is claiming responsibility for last month's bicyle bomb attack on Greece's Culture Minister George Voulgarakis. That attack failed. But in Iraq, it can be fairly assumed, the assailants are more determined to wreak havoc.