I am always very skeptical about body counts that are claimed during war time. There are a number of reasons for my skepticism, but far and away the most significant of them is that it is in one side’s interest to overstate the total and the other sides’ to understate it.
That said, I will post the following segment of Naimatullah Karyab’s article at Agence France Presse (AFP), which discusses the result of this past week’s bomb attack on what was believed to be an ISIS complex consisting of underground tunnels and ammunition storage:
Afghan authorities Saturday reported a jump in fatalities from the American military’s largest non-nuclear bomb, declaring some 90 Islamic State fighters dead, as US-led ground forces sought to advance on their mountain hideouts.
Dubbed the “Mother Of All Bombs”, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast was unleashed in combat for the first time Thursday, hitting IS positions in a remote area of eastern Nangarhar province.
The unprecedented attack triggered global shock waves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered a threat as big as the resurgent Taliban.
The bomb smashed IS’s hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in a huge mushroom cloud and towering flames.
“At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the bombing,” Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP on Saturday, adding that three tunnels that sheltered the insurgents had been destroyed.
Shinwari said that American and Afghan ground forces were slowly advancing on the mountainous area, which is blanketed with landmines, to clear the site, but there were still some pockets of resistance from insurgents.
“New fighters have probably come from the other side of the border (Pakistan) to collect the dead bodies,” he added.
Did we really kill that many members of ISIS (or IS or Daesh, or ISIL depending on who’s talking)?
I hope so. At least that much – the more the better.
Will this act as a deterrent to this beyond-sick group of sub-human murderers?
I hope so.
Will it do the same for the taliban, and for North Korea, Iran and other terrorist supporting countries?
I hope so.
Will our ability to deliver such weaponry deter our enemies from retaliating?
I hope so – more than all the other hopes put together.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
From reports I have heard about this weapon it would be impossible to know how many were killed.
It vaporizes anyone in the vicinity of where it detonates.