Russian-Language Manual Promotes Construction and Use of Remote-Controlled Magnetic IEDs
Source: МАГНИТНАЯ МИНА
Executive Summary
A 20-page Russian-language manual titled “Anti-Transport Radio-Controlled Magnetic Mine (New Version 2025)” circulated by a user calling himself “LamanhoAdmin” provides detailed instructions for designing, assembling, and employing a vehicle-borne magnetic IED. The document targets Russian-speaking extremists or militant actors, offering step-by-step photos, wiring diagrams, and explosive recipes, and ends with photos of apparent real-world car bombings, underscoring that this is an operational rather than theoretical text.
Analysis
The manual is structured as a full “how-to” guide for building a remote-detonated magnetic mine designed to be attached to vehicles, using commercially available radios, basic electronic components, and homemade or repurposed explosives. It opens with an outline of sections on task setting, device types, explosive selection, assembly of the firing mechanism, production of initiating and main charges, safety and employment recommendations, and “test results,” presenting itself as an updated 2025 version of an existing design. The branding, logo, and multiple encrypted contact options indicate an organized facilitator or small network, rather than a one-off author.
The cover page labels the device as a “radio-controlled anti-transport magnetic mine” and displays the “Lamanho” emblem alongside icons for Rocket.Chat, Jabber, Threema, and Element, plus usernames for each platform, inviting direct contact.
Interior pages provide a numbered contents list and narrative sections describing objectives, device selection, and the role of the mine against “transport targets,” followed by photographs of specific radio models, disassembled electronics, trigger circuits, and example builds placed under or on vehicles.
Several pages show the preparation of sensitive initiating composition and a main charge using common precursors, including images of household packaging and lab glassware, signaling a focus on low-end, accessible materials suitable for non-state actors.
The final pages include “brief recommendations” warning against working at home, urging operational security, and then show photographs of damaged vehicles and street scenes labeled as the “results of detonations” in the city of Al-Bab, implying prior operational use.
The combination of Russian text, Middle Eastern place references, and visual examples from a Syrian city suggests that the material is intended to transfer battlefield improvisation experience into a broader Russian-speaking ecosystem—potentially appealing to foreign fighters, extremist sympathizers, or criminal groups. Emphasis on remote initiation, magnetic attachment, and civilian-looking components reflects an interest in covert, urban attacks against vehicles associated with security services or political targets. While the document significantly lowers the technical barrier for constructing such a device, it also reveals recognizable patterns: specific radio models, wiring layouts, explosive mixtures, and attachment methods that can serve as intelligence cues for law enforcement and counter-IED specialists.
Sources
МАГНИТНАЯ МИНА pdf (Russian-language guide on remote-controlled magnetic IEDs)
