US unleashes ‘mother of all bombs’ on Isil cave hideout
DONALD TRUMP sent a clear message to the world by dropping the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used by the US in combat – known as the “mother of all bombs” – on Isil forces in Afghanistan.
Officially called the Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, the 21,600lb payload was targeted at a complex of caves the terrorist group used in the east of the country.
The show of force was a signal to US enemies including Syria, North Korea and Iran that the White House is prepared to take action from which previous administrations refrained.
A MOAB was first tested in 2003, days before the start of the Iraq war, but it was never used by either George W Bush or Barack Obama.
It was deployed as Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, in defiance of all evidence, accused the US of fabricating last week’s chemical attack in his country. In an interview he said: “Were the children dead at all?”
Meanwhile, Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, warned that North Korea may already be able to launch missiles loaded with the sarin nerve agent at Japan, a security situation he called “increasingly severe”.
The MOAB, also known as the GBU43B, was dropped from a US Air Force MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the
border with Pakistan, at 7.32pm local time. The US military said it did everything possible to avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage. A damage assessment was being carried out.
President Trump said: “We are so proud of our military. It was another successful event.”
Asked if he had authorised the use of the bomb Mr Trump said: “Everybody knows exactly what happened, and what I do is I authorise my military.”