Pakistani was driving world's largest truck bomb near Af-Pak border: Report
A massive vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), also known as a truck bomb, was intercepted by Afghan security forces near the Pakistan-Afghan border in October, reported ABC News on Wednesday.
The truck driver was allegedly a Pakistani and he set off a grenade in the cab of the truck. When later taken to a hospital, he detonated a suicide vest, killing himself, stated Afghan sources.
The truck bomb was loaded with 61,500 pounds of explosives. In comparison, the truck bomb used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing - in which 168 people were killed - made use of 5,000 pounds of explosives.
The bomb, discovered in Afghanistan on October 14, is "larger in comparison to some others we have seen," said Army Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesperson for the US-led International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) Joint Command in Kabul, to ABC News.
Another source from the Defence Department stated it was the largest truck bomb ever known to be built.
Some analysts are skeptical about the estimated weight of the explosives, but still acknowledge that the bomb, also known as the Gardez VBIED, is extraordinarily large.