Posted on 03/03/2002 5:45:03 PM PST by blam
March 04, 2002
US seeks to ignite caves as planes drop 'vacuum' bombs
By Roland Watson in Washington and Michael Evans
US WARPLANES rained bombs on al-Qaeda and Taleban soldiers holed up in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan yesterday after the biggest American-led ground offensive of the five-month Afghan War failed to force them out of their hideouts.
A new all-out ground attack was held back yesterday owing to unexpectedly fierce opposition, according to Afghan government troops, who were repulsed on Saturday. The Afghan fighters and US advisers were forced to withdraw close to the nearby town of Gardez, about 95 miles from Kabul and 20 miles from the fighting.
One US soldier and three Afghans died in the attacks, according to Pentagon sources, who said that for the moment the assault was being confined to B52 raids, which included the use of two new 2,000lb “thermobaric”, bombs, which create a blast that drives air out of a cave to suffocate those inside. Sixteen Americans and more than a dozen Afghans were injured and three US helicopters had been hit by hostile fire but returned to base, a US official said.
Afghan soldiers said that they believed they were facing up to 5,000 diehard fighters, although Pentagon officials estimated the numbers to be in the hundreds.
The latest American offensive against al-Qaeda and Taleban forces in eastern Afghanistan did not involve British troops. There are also no plans at present to increase the number of British troops for the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) operating in Kabul, even if a decision is taken to expand the mandate to include other parts of Afghanistan.
Major A. C. Roper, an American spokesman for the coalition forces based in southern Kandahar, said that the “firefights have been intense”.
The thermobaric bombs, which send a huge fireball deep underground, have been rushed into operation as part of the latest drive against regrouped al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters. The bombs are designed to penetrate caves, sucking the air from tunnels after igniting a fuel vapour.
Afghan soldiers said that dozens of US personnel, believed to be CIA and military forces, had to abandon four-wheel-drive vehicles and flee for their lives after coming under heavy fire on Saturday. They were plucked to safety by helicopter.
Yesterday’s assault relied on airstrikes, involving a stream of B52 bombers whose payloads sent black plumes above the mountains of the Shah-e-Kot range south of Gardez, 100 miles south of Kabul. The offensive, which opened on Friday evening with little warning from the Pentagon, had been planned for several weeks after a slow build-up of an estimated 600 dispersed al-Qaeda fighters. Aimed at what US officials have described as the last big pocket of al-Qaeda resistance in Afghanistan, it is designed to learn the lessons of the fruitless pre-Christmas search of the Tora Bora mountains for Osama bin Laden.
Although there is no suggestion that the battle has been plotted with bin Laden in mind — his whereabouts are still uncertain — the offensive involves the largest number of US troops in a single combat mission in the five-month war.The bulk of allied forces, some 1,500, are Afghan and are supported by dozens of US special forces, as has been the Pentagon’s preferred mode of operation. But several hundred soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division have also been deployed in the area, the first time that regular troops have been given such a role.
US military planners were criticised after the Tora Bora offensive for relying too heavily on Afghan forces. The failure to commit US troops other than small numbers of special forces was blamed in part for letting hundreds of al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters escape into neighbouring mountains and almost certainly into Pakistan. The current offensive also includes Australian and Canadian forces.
The thermobaric bombs, which carry a penetrating warhead called a BLU-118B, were tested in Nevada in December. Officials said in January that they would be rushed to Afghanistan, but this latest offensive is the first time they have been used. US forces have deployed 5,000lb bunker-buster bombs, which are designed to bury themselves underground before exploding, and 15,000lb daisy-cutters, which incinerate everything on the ground within a 600-yard radius
Every time and every place are good to test our equipment and hone our skills.
Some on FR have said that England is our only ally in the War on Terrorism. I think we should give some deserved credit to Canada and Australia too.
Did you ever see the show on the fire aboard the Intrepid (I think)? John McCain's bomb spontaneously combusted
- WW2 inventory clearance - while on the flight deck.
Can't remember all the details, maybe the fuse caught on fire. Vietnam was using up a lot of current inventory
faster than it could be replaced at peace time production levels.
Yup. Saw that. I think it began when a missle go a power surge(?) and went off. I'm presently watching (History Channel) the evacuation of Saigon in 1975. BTW, that stairway on top of the US embassy that people are shown going up to the helicopters is now in the Gerald Ford presidential library.
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