First hand glimpse at the horrors of war: Terrifying video from Afghanistan ...

First hand glimpse at the horrors of war: Terrifying video from Afghanistan shows exactly what it is like to be struck by an IED

In a single second the blinding flash of the detonating IED knocks the solder to the ground in Afghanistan as rubble and dusty debris are spewed out. The rare and disturbing POV footage was filmed two years ago, but the shock and sheer intensity of the leveling blast still shocks. Presumably on a routine patrol in war-torn Afghanistan, the American soldier is surrounded by his comrades after the blast and miraculously survived. While the soldier in the video is unfortunately not identified, the video serves as a reminder of the perils that servicemen and women endure daily whilst deployed to the Central Asian nation. At the height of the war against the insurgency of the Taliban in 2010, 60 percent of the 400 weekly attacks in Afghanistan were the result of roadside bombs.

Data released by the Pentagon in 2010 showed 1,059 IED incidents in April of that year, one of the highest monthly numbers on record and more than double the amount in April 2009. The work performed by bomb-disposal experts - made famous by the film Hurt Locker, which was set in Iraq - became more deadly as the Taliban became more sophisticated. Part of the problem was that the novice Afghan army engineers were facing an enemy that had mastered the art of bomb-making and were becoming more creative. Trained by Western military experts, the Afghan military's progress has been arduous because the Taliban had become so ingenious with their methods of killing.

In the training session soldiers pass the metal detector past a disused anti-tank mine rigged with explosives. A cooker stuffed with an explosive device is placed on the side of the road. Then there is a wired, old mortar on display. One soldier is told to take his weapon off before placing a rock down on a sand mound to mark the location of an IED.

Infantrymen kneel along the side of the road, practising how to keep an eye out for Taliban fighters who may stage an ambush during an IED-sweeping operation. The Taliban are also now hiding bombs in trees and walls, not just the carcasses of dogs or donkeys. They often plant IEDs in one area and melt away to do the same in another. The engineers are likely to be frustrated for lack of more sophisticated training and they need more devices to detect IEDs activated by remote-controlled devices. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577839/Terrifying-person-video-Afghanistan-shows-exactly-like-struck-IED.html#ixzz2veVL8Um9 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook