New Delhi, Apr 13 (Agencies): The United States on Thursday dropped the 'biggest non-nuclear bomb' in its arsenal against Islamic State targets in Afghanistan.
The United States Forces - Afghanistan released a statement confirming the strike.
"At 7.32pm local time today, US Forces - Afghanistan conducted a strike on an ISIS-K tunnel complex in Achin district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, as part of ongoing efforts to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan... The strike used a GBU-43 bomb dropped from a US aircraft," the statement said.
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), nicknamed the 'Mother of All Bombs', is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided explosive. This is the first time that the US has used the MOAB bomb in combat.
Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said the bomb, which contains 11 tons of explosives, was dropped on a cave complex believed to be used by IS fighters in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, very close to the border with Pakistan.