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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, @07:44PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @07:44PM (#494161)

    Whatever happened to all that big talk about "hearts and minds"?
    I used to some work for an Iraqi surgeon. Lovely bloke, used to cook the kind of food he made in Iraq and bring it in for the office; no idea about his surgical skills but he worked out his contract so they must have been fine.
    AFAIK, his visa/work permit was basically a consolation prize after the coalition killed something like 10 members of his family by dropping a bomb in the wrong place during the campaign in Iraq. How the fuck he could still function as a human being, never mind as a surgeon, after going through that is beyond me. If our places were reversed I don't think I'd have stopped screaming yet.

  • (Score: 2) by rts008 on Friday April 14 2017, @08:21PM (1 child)

    by rts008 (3001) on Friday April 14 2017, @08:21PM (#494178)

    Well, he had the 'opportunity' to build up mental/emotional callouses living under Saddam's rule in preparation for the trauma.

    Lucky for us, we too can hope to get similar callouses under the Orange Clown's rule. ;-)

    Sarcasm aside, some folks are more resilient than others. I do hope he found some semblance of dealing with that horror and insanity with a little peace and happiness after that. I don't really think I would have 'stopped screaming' yet either, or could deal with it gracefully.(and we wonder where all these 'terrorists' come from!)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @07:34AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @07:34AM (#494331)

      Humans are incredibly resilient.

      Read any of the very good books on contemporary refugees in that area to understand.