The U.S. military has shipped 10 of their new thermobaric bombs to Afghanistan, Pentagon officials confirmed Friday. The laser-guided weapons, said to have been developed specifically for the war on terror, can penetrate deep into caves. Also called fuel-air explosives, each thermobaric bomb contains two explosive devices and a highly flammable chemical that sends a shock wave through enclosed spaces such as caves and tunnels without collapsing them. Far more powerful than conventional high explosives — and more likely to kill people hiding in caves or bunkers by sucking the air out of such places — each weapon consists of a container of fuel and two explosive charges. The first charge detonates, dispersing it. A second charge then detonates the billowing cloud of fuel.

Awakened and reached for comment, the Arab street muttered something about a Jewish conspiracy, then pulled the blankets back up over its head and tried to get back to sleep.

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