US F-15E fighters flew strikes in Afghanistan for the first time on Wednesday, giving US commanders a powerful new weapon in their 12-day-old air campaign against the Taliban, a US defense official said Thursday.
The fighters are the only aircraft in the theater capable of dropping 5,000 pound GBU-28 "bunker buster" bombs, although they were not used for that purpose in their first strikes, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The "bunker busters" were used in the first time October 9 but were dropped by B-2 stealth bombers flying from their base in the continental United States, defense officials have said -- Washington, (AFP)
