SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, (THEWILL) – The United States Air Force dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb, also known as the ‘Mother Of All Bombs,’ in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday against a series of caves used by Islamic State militants (ISIS).
According to Pentagon spokesman, Adam Stump, it was the first time this type of bomb had been used in combat and was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft.
The 21,000-pound bomb is known as the Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB but in military circles, the acronym is known better as the ‘Mother of All Bombs.’
CNN, which first reported the bomb’s use, said the MOAB bomb was selected because the area targeted was in an extremely remote portion of the country, meaning risk to civilians was minimal.
The sheer power of the blast would also be more effective in destroying underground tunnels carved out of the rocky terrain that other conventional bombs might not penetrate.
The MOAB is so heavy that it was carried over the target by a C-130 cargo plane, then essentially shoved out the back when it was ready to be deployed.
The target was in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan’s tribal area, a porous border that extremists have exploited in eluding coalition forces.
THEWILL recalls that last week, US military, on the orders of President Trump, attacked a site in Syria in response to use of chemical weapons allegedly by the Syrian government on civilians in Syria.
