Afghanistan Violence 6-23-08

The Australian: Britain admits to using 'brutal' vacuum bomb against Taliban

Apache attack helicopters have fired the thermobaric weapons against fighters in buildings and caves, to create a pressure wave that sucks the air out of victims, shreds their internal organs and crushes their bodies.

The Ministry of Defence has admitted to the use of the weapons, condemned by human rights groups as "brutal", on several occasions, including against a cave complex.

The use of the Hellfire AGM-114N weapons had been deemed so successful they would now be fired from RAF Reaper unmanned drones controlled by "pilots" at Creech air force base in Nevada, an Defence Ministry spokesman added.