Bomb fragment strikes truck outside Nellis

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer Air Force Times
Posted : Thursday Oct 16, 2008 14:05:21 EDT

Yes, an Air Force bomb struck a truck Wednesday in Las Vegas.

An Air Force fighter, for reasons under investigation, released a 25-pound BDU-33 training bomb that hit the ground just inside the boundary of Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The nonexplosive bomb broke apart and a “piece” of the bomb bounced into a truck traveling on Las Vegas Boulevard near the intersection of Beasley Boulevard, near the north side of the base.

No one was injured. There was no word from Nellis or police officials about damage to the truck.

It is not uncommon for practice bombs to fall off Air Force jets. In March, a BDU-33 fell from an F-16 over Tulsa, Okla., striking an apartment building. In January 2007, a training bomb flying on an A-10 fell into a South Korean factory. And in January 2004, a BDU-33 fell from an F-15E and into an English industrial area. No one was injured in the accidents.

Mistaken bomb drops typically are caused by malfunctioning bomb racks or incorrect installation of the bombs.

Suspected U.S. missile kills 1 in Pakistan

By Ishtiaq Mahsud - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 16, 2008 7:20:01 EDT
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. missile strike hit a house in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing one purported foreign militant and injuring another, officials said.

The strike took place in the South Waziristan region of Pakistan’s wild border belt, considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said reports from informants and field agents suggested that one suspected foreign militant died in the attack and that another foreigner was injured.

Asked if any al-Qaida leaders had been hit, the officials said that while Arabs had been living in the house, the identities of the victims were not yet clear.

They said foreign and Pakistani militants had frequented the house in a remote, forested area since its owner fled the tribal region last year.

A local resident, Javed Mehsud, said he saw a number of unmanned planes in the sky before and after three explosions destroyed the house in the village of Tapargai.

U.S. military and CIA drones that patrol the frontier region are believed to have carried out at least a dozen missile strikes against suspected militant targets since August. The U.S. rarely confirms or denies involvement in the attacks.

All of those strikes, as well as a highly unusual raid by helicopter-borne commandos, have been in the regions of North and South Waziristan, key strongholds for Islamic militants fighting on both sides of the border.

Thursday’s strike was the first in over a year in the territory of Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan’s most prominent Taliban leader and the chief suspect in last year’s assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.