Huge Explosion Rocks Afghan Capital
AP trumpets a headline that “Huge Explosion Rocks Afghan Capital.” Despite the hugeness, nobody was killed and not much damage was done, although a security guard was injured.
Update: AFP adds that, “A powerful rocket exploded in a television station compound near the US embassy and NATO headquarters in the Afghan capital, injuring a Nepalese security guard, police said. The massive blast from the ‘very strong’ rocket sent shrapnel flying hundreds of meters (yards) from the state-run Kabul TV and radio building, an official at Kabul police command told AFP.”
The BBC, in typical British fashion, eschews the modifiers: “A rocket has exploded in the Afghan capital Kabul, in the grounds of the state-run television station. It landed at about 2300 local time (1830 GMT) in an area near the UN special representative’s compound, sending up a plume of smoke.”
A “very strong” rocket? Does some arms maker have “very weak” rockets on offer? Not that throwing shrapnel a couple hundred meters/yards sounds like much more than a hand grenade.
Surely someone will complain that the BBC, being on the side of the terrorists, is trying to make the rocket sound friendlier. The Reuters will use quote-marks (‘A “rocket” exploded in the Kabul’) and it’s off to the blogosphere races.
If you don’t call it a homicide rocket, you’re objectively pro-terrorist.