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posted by takyon on Friday April 14 2017, @01:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the unconventional-conventional dept.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, also known as the "Mother of All Bombs", has been dropped in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. It is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal.

CNN reports:

The US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission. A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, the sources said. [...] A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb.

The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the military sources. They said the target was an ISIS tunnel and cave complex as well as personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.

Gen. John Nicholson, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement. "This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against [ISIS]." The statement said U.S. forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties.

Also at Fox News. The bombing came days after the death of a Green Beret in the same province, but a defense official said the bombing was unrelated. Another official had this to say:

The MOAB had to be dropped out of the back of a U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane due to its massive size. "We kicked it out the back door," one U.S. official told Fox News.

Update: The Afghan defence ministry says that 36 ISIS fighters were killed by the strike.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @06:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @06:40PM (#494143)

    If he appears not belligerent enough, then his domestic enemies will engage in a coup/revolution and wipe him out.

    We only see the outside of the DPRK but that's just the tip of the iceburg.

    Most people seem to forget that domestic politics is more important than foreign politics, especially the smaller the country because their ability to affect foreign politics scales down rapidly with size.
    Being a dictator doesn't make you immune to domestic politics, if anything it makes your perch more precarious because falling off it usually results in death.

    Kim has been killing off a lot of the competition since he ascended to the throne. The assassination of his half-brother being the most recent and visible.