On Friday, the Pentagon declassified drone footage of the Massive Ordinance Air Blast strike over a remote area of eastern Nahgarhar province in Afghanstan.
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The 21,600-pound GBU-43 — the largest non-nuclear bomb in the world – targeted a complex of underground bunkers and tunnels used by ISIS to escape allied bombardment. It is estimated that at least 90 terrorists were also killed in the blast. Here’s the declassified footage:
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There were no reports of civilian casualties.
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Local residents said the blast – which can cause massive devastation for at least a one-mile radius – felt like “the heavens were falling.”
About 1.5 miles away, Mohammad Shahzadah was sitting down for dinner when he felt the blast.
“The earth felt like a boat in a storm,” Shahzadah told The Guardian. “I thought my house was being bombed. Last year a drone strike targeted a house next to mine, but this time it felt like the heavens were falling. The children and women were very scared.”
“My ears were deaf for a while. My windows and doors are broken. There are cracks in the walls,” he said.
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The massive strike was ordered because fighter jets and drones had been unsuccessful in destroying the tunnel complex.
