Shmedlap,

The machete will be the new AK.
Funny you shoud mention that. In a early 1960s Army study that was part of the flechette rifle program ("Spiw: The Deadliest Weapon That Never Was" by R. Blake Stevens), the guys behind the program asserted that in terms of casualties inflicted per soldier on the battle field per unit of time (I think, it's been a while), the deadliest weapon was an edged weapon with an 18 to 24 inch blade. They were a little more specific, and cited the Roman short sword. Still, you could make the case that the machete fits the same general profile.

And then a solder arrived in my unit, who had left Rwanda with her family during their troubles ten years back...

This bears thinking about, but back to EFPs.

If I'm understanding it correctly, you have a carefully machined (would stamped work?) copper disk, a tube, high explosive (mach 6 projectile velocities were mentioned in one article; sounds like an RDX based explosive, SEMTEX or some such), a blasting cap, and the complicated bit that could be anything from wire and a battery to something involving a cellphone or some other electronic widget. Concealment materials added as needed and can range from improvised to sophisticated.

At the most basic level, it seems to me that the choke points are the copper disks and blasting caps. The tolerances of that disk and the tube can't be that high, but the shape of the copper disc requires some extra knowledge.

I'm mostly thinking out loud and trying to better understand what is being said in the media, thanks for your forebearance and sharing your expertise.