Video shows the moment US dropped 'Mother of All Bombs' in Afghanistan
- By Web Desk -
- Apr 14, 2017
WASHINGTON: US Department of Defence on Friday released a video which captures the exact moment the ‘Mother of All Bombs’ was dropped in Afghanistan.
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb — better known by its nickname, the “Mother Of All Bombs” — hit a tunnel complex at 7:32 pm (1502 GMT) in Achin district in Nangarhar province, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb — better known by its nickname, the “Mother Of All Bombs” — hit a tunnel complex at 7:32 pm (1502 GMT) in Achin district in Nangarhar province, US Forces Afghanistan had said in a statement.
#VIDEO shows the moment #US dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb in #Afghanistan – the strike reportedly killed 36 ISIS men pic.twitter.com/uMBBXBg7gY
— Anees Hanif (@anees_avis) April 14, 2017
The huge bomb, delivered via an MC-130 transport plane, has a blast yield equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, and the weapon was originally designed as much to intimidate foes as to clear broad areas.
The strike hit a system of tunnels and caves that IS fighters had used to “move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces” nearby, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
“We must deny them operational space, which we did,” Spicer had added.
ISIS-K, also known as the Khorasan group, is based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and is composed primarily of former members of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.
The strike used a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb dropped from a U.S. aircraft. The strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities.
“As ISIS-K’s losses have mounted, they are using [improvised bombs], bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense,” said Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan. “This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K.”
U.S. forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike and will continue offensive operations until ISIS-K is destroyed in Afghanistan.