The US military says it has dropped a 21,600lb (9,800kg) bomb on a tunnel complex used by Islamic State militants in Afghanistan.
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), known as “the mother of all bombs”, is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used by the US in a conflict.
The Pentagon said it was dropped from a US aircraft in Nangarhar province.
The news came hours after the Pentagon admitted an air strike in Syria mistakenly killed 18 rebels.
It said a partnered force had mistakenly identified the target location as an IS position, but the strike on 11 April had killed rebels from the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by Washington. How powerful is ‘mother of all bombs’?
'Many militants killed’The strike in Afghanistan follows last week’s death of a US special forces soldier fighting IS in Nangarhar.
The GBU-43/B bomb was dropped in Achin district on Thursday evening local time, the Pentagon said. It is more than 9m (30 feet) in length.
Image copyright AFP Image caption IS fighters have moved from Arab countries into Afghanistan It was first tested in 2003, but had not been deployed in combat before.
“We targeted a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters use to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, using another name for IS.
He said necessary precautions were taken to prevent civilian casualties and “collateral damage”.
The area where the bomb was dropped is mostly mountainous and sparsely populated, BBC correspondents say. Local sources said the explosion was so powerful it was heard in two neighbouring districts.
Media captionSpeaking at the White House: "Another successful job, we are very proud of our military" The US has not yet confirmed the results of the strike in detail, but a local official told the BBC that many IS militants were killed, allegedly including the brother of a senior leader.
US President Donald Trump called it “another successful job”.
[HR][/HR]‘A huge weapon’ - Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondentThe clue is in the ungainly name - the MOAB or GBU-43/B massive ordnance air blast is the US military’s most destructive conventional (that is non-nuclear) bomb.
It is a huge weapon, and is GPS-guided. This looks to be the first time it has ever been used in combat.
It was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft - the US Special Forces variant of the Hercules transport. The weapon is carried on a special cradle inside the aircraft from which it is extracted by a parachute.
Its principal effect is a massive blast over a huge area. It is a larger version of weapons used during the Vietnam War.
The Trump administration’s policy towards Afghanistan remains under consideration but the use of this weapon sends a powerful signal that IS is top of the administration’s target list wherever its offshoots may be found.
[HR][/HR]Gen John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said the jihadist group’s "losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence.
“This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive.”
The governor of Achin district, Esmail Shinwari, told the AFP news agency that the explosion was the biggest he had ever seen and that huge flames “engulfed the area”.
Re: US drops largest military bomb (MOAB) on Afghanistan
So anything that we hear now now will not be valid as this is kinda same as the earthquake in the remote areas of Balauchistan. You’ll never know the actual count and how many of them were civilians.
And if you wana trust Afghan govt spokesman, then well, good luck.
Re: US drops largest military bomb (MOAB) on Afghanistan
I don’t think he is doing this for popularity, this was a campaign promise that he was elected on. Most security experts from the very onset had announced that he will annihilate the Jihadis. I think Pakistan will be pressured to get more forceful also.
Re: US drops largest military bomb (MOAB) on Afghanistan
if bombs eliminate jihadis, why havent the past 15 years of bombing done that? bunker busters in iraq, hellfire missiles from drones in afghanistan, yemen etc, now MOAB from B2. more for domestic rural and rust belt jesus and guns 'murican consumption than any real goal with respect to jihadis. meanwhile, lockheed, northrop, boeing going to get a boatload of taxpayer moneys and “patriotic” goodwill. maybe some stock purchases are in order…
Re: US drops largest military bomb (MOAB) on Afghanistan
they showed restraint and a few hundred thousand civilians are dead in iraq and afghanistan. some restraint…
the only people these bombs are saving are the US soldiers. earlier they had to go in and patrol or fight the enemy combatants, now they can stay safe and post naked pictures of female marines on facebook, while missiles and bombs flatten the “enemy” countryside. back to bush in 2003.
Re: US drops largest military bomb (MOAB) on Afghanistan
Many republicans believe that american forces have been fighting with one arm tied behind their backs and we should go back to the WWII era carpet bombing and/or dropping nukes, even though it didn’t work when american pulled the plug on south vietnam. The jihadists are supposedly to come begging on their knees afterwards and accept all american demands and probably have an orgy and then become born again christians.
The blond former mouthpiece Tomi Lahren said so and Ted Cruz also got a long round of applause in the debates when he said that “isis” / syria needs to be turned to glass.
Lil Kim better not go ever on Twitter and say that Donnie is only worth a $1 million dollars!!!
He knows and sanity is actually prevailing there to avoid a war.