US Drops "Mother Of All Bombs" On Islamic State

The US has used "the mother of all bombs" to attack a tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan, killing 36 Islamic State group fighters.

The bomb, the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the US military, is known officially as a GBU-43B massive ordnance air blast weapon (MOAB).

The US military headquarters in Kabul said the bomb was dropped at about 7.30pm local time on a tunnel complex in Nangarhar province, where the Afghan affiliate of IS has been operating, close to the Pakistani border.

Pentagon officials described it as the "mother of all bombs", while President Donald Trump described the operation as a "very, very successful mission".

Afghan officials said there were no civilian casualties from the attack.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence statement said several IS caves and ammunition caches were also destroyed.

US army general John Nicholson, the commander of American forces in the country, said IS were using improvised bombs, bunkers and tunnels to "thicken their defence", so the massive bomb was a necessary response:

"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive," he said.

The US Air Force test the GBU-43B massive ordnance air blast weapon in 2003.

Gen Nicholson said fighters from IS - also known as Daesh - were using tunnels and minefields and the bomb was used to clear those obstacles and destroy their "sanctuary".

"This weapon was very effective in that use, and our soldiers on the ground - our Afghan commandos, our special forces - are on the site now and the weapon achieved its intended purpose," he said at a press conference.

He insisted there was no wider signal being sent by the bomb's use, and it was "simply the appropriate tactical moment against the proper target to use this particular munition".

"It is not related to any outside events other than our focus on destroying Daesh in 2017."

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai used Twitter to condemn the weapon's use.

"I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear bomb, on Afghanistan by US military," he said.

"This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons."

Hakim Khan, 50, a resident of Achin district in Jalalabad where the attack took place, welcomed the attack on Isis, saying:

"I want 100 times more bombings on this group."

The Afghan Ministry of Defence said several IS caves and ammunition caches were destroyed by the giant bomb, which terrified villagers on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with its "earsplitting blast".

Pakistani villagers living near the Afghan border said the explosion was so loud they thought a bomb had been dropped in their village by US warplanes targeting terrorists in Pakistan.

The US estimates 600 to 800 IS fighters are present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar.

The US has concentrated heavily on combating them while also supporting Afghan forces battling the Taliban.

Inamullah Meyakhil, spokesman for the central hospital in eastern Nangarhar province, said the facility had received no dead or wounded from the attack.

District governor Ismail Shinwari said there is no civilian property near the air strike location.

Cover image courtesy of the US Department of Defense.