Huge explosion hits front lines north of Kabul

The Associated Press ^ | 10/30/2001 5:20 am ET | The Associated Press

[mdittmar]

JABAL SARAJ, Afghanistan (AP) A huge explosion hit the Bagram front lines about 25 miles north of Kabul on Tuesday, sending up a mushroom cloud that billowed at least 1,000 feet into the air.

The origin of the explosion was not immediately clear, since there were no airplanes immediately overhead. However, U.S. planes had roared in the skies over the front lines north of the capital throughout the morning and early afternoon Tuesday.

It was also not clear what positions had been hit by the blast and how extensive the damage was.

[RooRoobird14]

The latest styatement is that the blast was a suicide bomber instructing the rest of he cell on how to use the device. He said he was only going to show them ONCE.

ROTFLOL--that's good!!!!!

[MaxwellWolf]

In the Gulf War there was a SAS patrol nearby when we dropped a FAE and the patrol radioed back something to the effect "The blokes just nuked Iraq!"

[Movemout]

I'm sorry if I misread your motivation. It is not the first time I have seen FReepers try to put things in the context of a movie. If a pattern sets up one tries to discern the cause.

[Eagle9]

[Guna]

I hope this is the "real thing" and we don't get our hopes up for naught. The US needs to hit hard!

I wonder if the announcement that the US should be on the alert for a fresh wave of terrorism has anything to do with this attack we are discussing right now. I mean if the US is going in for the jugular, the US based mini-bin Ladens would attempt a counter wave of terroristm in retalitaion?

I say hit 'em again, harder!

[LonePalm]

I really hope the Taliban are not reading this.

I really hope they are.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LoanPalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Norb2569]

Neat video, thanks!!

[4CJ]

To end this war now, couldn't W just send over the Dim voters from Palm Beach?

[NELSON111]

The "daisy-cutter" designation comes from the fuse...not the bomb. It appears that since the cloud only went to 1000' that it was not a FAE (those go higher due to massive heat). Probably was a BLU-82/B...15,000 pounder. Those are the ones we dropped on Iraw that spooked them so bad and caused people to think we nuked them.

[Chapita]

Sorry, but you are right! Due to the flash, nobody would mistake a nuke for a FAE.

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

I believe they used a "daisy cutter". THAT was the one they thought was a nuke during the gulf war!

[BluH2o]

A huge explosion hit the Bagram front lines about 25 miles north of Kabul on Tuesday, sending up a mushroom cloud that billowed at least 1,000 feet into the air.

Northern Alliance leaders were complaining the U.S. wasn't putting down enough ordinance to support their drive into Kabul ... this should help.

[Publius6961]

Small tactical nuke?

Don't be silly.
Even the smallest tactical would do a LOT more than 1000 feet.

I can't believe people can be terrified by the world "nuclear" and "irradiation", yet be so ignorant about facts a fourth grader can understand.

[E.Allen]

These are two different types of ordnance. Daisy cutter is LARGE, 15,000lbs (BLU-82) conventional bomb

FAE (BLU-73) is much smaller 550lbs, but is VERY powerful, it disperses a large cloud of gas, lets it mix with air, and then ignites it.

Both are said to create such an overpressure wave that they may be useful in detonating minefields

[ohioman]

It was probably a Fuel Air Explosive (FAE). When detonated, it looks like a baby nuke.

[lgjhn]

In fact the more strategies, tactics the Afghanis hear about then the BETTER...it can only serve to confuse them. Particularly if they give credibility to Freeper posts then they have no idea what is going to actually hit them.

Great reasoning and thought!!!...and with that in mind, let's wait till the middle of "ramadanadingdong" (or whatever those zombies call it) and select the Taliban front lines, Kabul, Kanatar, Bagdad, Damascus, Mecca, Madina, and a few other valuable "landmarks" (like they selected ours), and then synchronize tactical nukes in such a manner that they are all completely vaporized at the same instant in time...let's take em back to the 7th century and make it so that they can't progress socially and/or technically for another 5000 years.
Strategies that suck are: Taking away our domestic freedoms - unacceptable; Fighting a long, drawn out war with high casualty rates - unacceptable; Forever putting up with terrorist attacks and alerts on our home soil - totally unacceptable. Ta heck with being a bleeding heart, envrionmentally & politically correct bunch, it is time to end this thing and end it in such a manner that we'll never be messed with again.

[gaspar]

Was this the Daisy-Cutter used in Viet Nam? I thought the bomb they used there fell by parachute and had a long probe that allowed for an airburst when the probe made contact with the ground. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[NELSON111]

Exactly. The BLU-82/B is a CONVENTIONAL bomb...not a FAE. The "daisy-cutter" is the fuse...not the bomb itself. I think this is where some of the confusion is coming from. Some FAE's have a daisy-cutter fuse...which basically detonates them before they bury themselves in the ground. The BLU-82 also has a daisy fuse but it weighs in at 15,000 lbs. They used it in Nam to clear LZ's and if you have ever seen on go off...you know why...lots of boom and very little fire. I saw a video of one in Nam and wow...lots of green leaves floating in the air afterwards...and a big patch of cleared land about 100' across.

[Hillary 666]

Any military guys know what would cause that??

FAE bomb maybe? I heard those are pretty bad-to-the-bone.