Massive bomb drop by U.S. killed 36 militants, Afghan officials say

Thirty-six militants were killed in a U.S. bombing in the Achin district of eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said on Friday. (Parwiz/Reuters)

The biggest non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat by the U.S. military killed 36 militants in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, and villagers in the remote, mountainous area described being terrified by the "earsplitting blast."

The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday morning against an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group tunnel complex carved in the mountains that Afghan forces have tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said.

U.S. and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years. But the U.S. military brought out the biggest conventional bomb in its arsenal for the first time to hit the Islamic State, which has a far smaller but growing presence in Afghanistan. That apparently reflects President Donald Trump's vow for a more aggressive campaign against the group.

The bomb — known officially as a GBU-43B but nicknamed the mother of all bombs — unleashes 10 tonnes of explosives. Pentagon video showed the bomb striking a mountainside overlooking a river valley with a giant blast that overwhelms the landscape and sent up a massive column of black smoke. Agricultural terraces are visible in the footage, but no population centres.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement that the bomb destroyed several ISIS caves and ammunition caches.

Gen. Daulat Waziri, a ministry spokesman, said 36 ISIS fighters were killed, and that the death toll could likely rise. He said Afghan forces were at the tunnel complex assessing the damage.

ISIS's Aamaq news agency denied that any of its fighters were killed or wounded, citing a source within the group.

A combination of still images taken from a video released by the U.S. Department of Defence shows, clockwise, the explosion of a MOAB (mother of all bombs) when it struck the Achin district. (U.S. Department of Defense/Handout/Reuters)

Waziri said the bombing was necessary because the complex was extremely hard to penetrate, with some tunnels as deep as 40 metres. He called it a "strong position," with troops attacking it four times without advancing, adding that the complex "was full of mines."

"This was the right weapon for the right target," said U.S. Gen. John W. Nicholson, NATO commander in Afghanistan, at a news conference. He added that there were no reports of civilian casualties.

Nicholson said the bomb was intended to eliminate the militants' sanctuary in southern Nangarhar, "and this weapon was very effective in that use."