Gunnies armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked U.S. coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan, wounding one U.S. soldier and sparking a firefight that lasted for an hour. The wounded U.S. soldier was shot in the arm at an airfield in Khost. He was in stable condition and coalition troops were conducting a search of the area. U.S. troops called in an AC-130 gunship to help repel the attacking al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. A B-1 bomber dropped illumination rounds in the area. Exploring the region after the shootout, U.S. forces found spent shells and blood, but no enemy fighters.
We'll probably see crap like this daily from now on, until we invade the NWFP.Fred, I doubt if a B-1 has Illumination rounds in its available inventory. I could see mortars of 105mm howitzers, but not USAF bombers. The AC 130 has a searchlight capability however, if the mission calls for mounting one. I suspect it displaces something else on the plane when used.
One point here is that this was not a random bunch of gunnies shooting up the perimeter. For light infantry, they were well armed and unless we were shooting back at nothing, they used the weapons at least to hold their positions for some time.
Posted by Tom Roberts 3/20/2002 9:51:08 PM Lets try "mortars or 105mm..."
Posted by Tom Roberts 3/20/2002 9:52:37 PM I was wondering about that. B1 seems a pretty expensive way to deliver flares.
Posted by Fred 3/21/2002 12:05:21 AM |