The bombs killed 32 coalition troops in January and February, compared with 10 during the same period in 2008: according to data from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. The numbers are final for January and preliminary for February.
Last year, 3,276 IEDs detonated or were detected before blowing up in Afghanistan, a 45% increase over 2007, and a record for the war.
IEDs are the top killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Since the war began, 589 U.S. servicemembers have been killed there, 434 of them in combat. More than 2,700 have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.