USA drops largest non-nuclear bomb in eastern Afghanistan: Reports
According to CNN, a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday.
The Pentagon said the strike was the first time the 21,000lb weapon had been used in combat operations, reported The Independent which confirmed from a US Defence spokesperson that the mother of all bombs was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft.
According to CNN, the "weapon is known in the US Air Force by its nickname MOAB, or "mother of all bombs". MOAB stands for massive ordinance air blast.
CNN said the bomb was targeting Islamic State tunnels and fighters in the Achin district of Nangarhar.
USA is engaged in a long term conflict in Afghanistan invading the country after the 9/11 attacks of 2001 in America, with the public aim of dismantling the al Queda first along with the Talibans.
In Dec 2014, NATO formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan and transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government. In early 2017, thousands of American and other NATO troops remain in Afghanistan as military advisors and for counterterrorism operations without any formal plans to withdraw.
ISIS is the new enemy now after al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden was killed by the US Navy Seals in Pakistan in 2011.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
