The US hit some ISIS tunnels and caves with a 30 foot long bomb that weighs over 21,000 pounds that was dropped from a C-130. The Massive Ordnance Air Burst weapon often called “MOAB” or “Mother of all Bombs” is said to be the largest bomb in the US non-nuclear arsenal and has only been used once before in a test drop back in 2003.
Watch the MOAB Being Dropped from C-130 in 2003 Test
A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 300 meters wide after it exploded six feet above the ground. Anyone at the blast site was vaporized.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that MOAB is ‘a large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon’ whose use was intended to collapse underground spaces used by ISIS terrorists to move freely and attack U.S. and allied troops.
‘The United States takes the fight against ISIS seriously, and in order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space – which we did,’ Spicer said. – Daily Mail
The question arises if this is a one off event deploying such a large weapon or a sign of things to come as President Trump unleashes the military to eliminate ISIS. Some also suggest this event along with last weeks Tomahawk missile strikes on Syria may be a message to North Korea that the US views things differently and will act differently under President Trump compared to President Obama.
Featured image of MOAB bomb by Fl295 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by US Air Force