By Jerome Starkey in Kabul
The Sunday Times

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan are using carbon rods and glass, instead of metal pressure plates and nails, to make explosive devices invisible to theBritish Army’s metal detectors, writes Jerome Starkey.

Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Duncan, the most senior British bomb disposal officer in Afghanistan, said the insurgents were also placing “low metal” devices more “cleverly” this summer.

Of 22 British soldiers killed in the country during July, the highest monthly toll of the conflict, 19 died in explosions.

A further 57 were injured in the first half of the month. Most of the bombs are made in small “factories” in Helmand.

Nato is aiming to disrupt the bigger players.

“The financiers and the facilitators are the people you need to get,” Duncan said.