Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (UPI Image)
U.S. Drops 'Mother of All Bombs' on Rural Afghan IS Compound by Eric DuVall, United Press International
The U.S. Air Force dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb for the first time in combat on Thursday, targeting an underground Islamic State complex in a desolate portion of eastern Afghanistan, military officials said.
The 21,000-pound bomb is known as the Massive Ordinance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB. In military circles, the acronym is known better as the "Mother of All Bombs."
CNN, which first reported the bomb's use, said the MOAB bomb was selected because the area targeted was in an extremely remote portion of the country, meaning risk to civilians was minimal. The sheer power of the blast would also be more effective in destroying underground tunnels carved out of the rocky terrain that other conventional bombs might not penetrate…