The United States dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb in eastern Afghanistan on the series of caves used by ISIS militants.
Ministry spokesperson Muhammad Radmanish told Efe news that a large amount of ammunition and weapons were also destroyed in the bombing.
The US military yesterday dropped a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed as "Mother Of All Bombs" on a tunnel complex of ISIS-Khorasan, a regional affiliate of the terror group, in Achin district of Afghanistan's Nanagarh province, close to the Pakistani border.
Since news of the strike broke, most social media users in Afghanistan criticized both the Afghan government and U.S. One user calleld it "our generation's "Hiroshima", adding, "I'm still in shock".
It was "designed to support the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and U.S. forces... conducting clearance operations in the region".
The IS positions hit by the bomb are in Nangarhar province's Achin district, a sparsely-populated area where 600 to 800 fighters are thought to operate, according to the USA military. When it was developed in the early 2000s, the Pentagon did a formal review of legal justification for its combat use. He told US lawmakers the current troop level was insufficient and there was a "shortfall of a few thousand" advisers to train the Afghans.
"The GBU-43/B is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat", Air Force spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said.
USA bombs ISIS in Afghanistan with deadliest non-nuclear weapon ever
It added: "It is expected that the weapon will have a substantial psychological effect on those who witness its use". President Donald Trump dubbed the MOAB bombing as a successful event, saying the country is proud of its army.
It is the largest non-nuclear device the United States has ever unleashed in combat.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who gave the order for dropping the MOAB on an IS cave complex in Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan, labeled the event a "success", saying he was "very, very proud of the military". An American special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations.
The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, stationed in Afghanistan and operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump told CNN.
The US and Afghan forces were unable to advance because ISIS had mined the area with explosives, so the bomb was dropped to clear the tunnels, Mohib said.
"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K", he added, using the US military's acronym for the ISIS affiliate.
Ismail Shinwari, the governor of Achin district, said the US attack was carried out in a remote mountainous area with no civilian homes nearby and there were no reports of injured civilians. He said there has been heavy fighting in the area in recent weeks between Afghan forces and IS militants. The strike "targeted a system of tunnels and cave that ISIS fighters use to move around freely". "We have given the military the total authorization, and frankly, that's why they have been so successful".
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