A European Union-mandated study by the Conflict Armament Research showed that seven Indian companies have supplied components for Islamic State explosives. The list named 51 firms in 20 countries, suggesting governments and companies need to do more to track their equipment. The study traced the origins of around 700 bombs made by the militant group, and said there was no illegality on the part of the companies that supplied these parts. The seven Indian firms supplied “most of the detonators, detonating cord, and safety fuses documented”, it said.
Companies from Turkey, Brazil, Romania, Russia, the Netherlands, China, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and the United States were also on the list. Thirteen Turkish firms were named, making Turkey the country with the most companies supplying components to the group. The report found that IS was able to sometimes acquire material in under a month, as few were overseeing the supply chain.
The 20-month-long study looked at bombs seized from the Iraqi towns of al Rabia, Kirkuk, Mosul, and Tikrit and the Syrian town of Kobani. CAR’s executive director James Bevan said, “These findings support growing international awareness that ISIS in Iraq and Syria are very much self-sustaining – acquiring weapons and strategic goods, such as IED components, locally and with ease.”
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