The United States dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb, also known as the “mother of all bombs,” in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday against a series of caves used by ISIS militants, the military said.
It was the first time the U.S. has used this type of non-nuclear bomb in combat, Pentagon spokesperson Adam Stump said. It was dropped from a MC-130 transport, he said, and the aircraft had been brought to Afghanistan “some time ago” for potential use.
In a release, the military said the bomb was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time on a tunnel complex in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, where the Afghan affiliate of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has been operating.
Stump said the 21,600-pound (9.5-tonne), GPS-guided bomb contains 11 tons of explosives. The air force calls it the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, bomb.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much damage the device did.
It was first tested in March 2003, just days before the start of the Iraq war. When it was developed in the early 2000s, the Pentagon did a formal review of legal justification for its combat use.
Maximizing destruction
The target was close to the Pakistani border.
In the release, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces conducting clearing operations in the Achin area “while maximizing the destruction” of ISIS fighters and facilities.
He said ISIS has been using improvised explosive devices, bunkers and tunnels to strengthen its defences.
“This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K,” he added, using the U.S. military’s acronym for the ISIS affiliate.
‘Large, powerful, accurately delivered’
White House spokesperson Sean Spicer opened his daily news briefing speaking about the use of the bomb.
“We targeted a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target U.S. military advisers and Afghan forces in the area,” he said.
Last week, a U.S. soldier was killed in the same district as the bomb was dropped while conducting operations against ISIS.
“The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and in order to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space, which we did,” Spicer said.
.@USFOR_A #US Forces targets ISIS-K stronghold, drops GBU-43 #MOAB bomb on #ISIS pic.twitter.com/GYjyMLiqUS
— @CENTCOM
He described the device as “a large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon.”
The United States took “all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage,” he said.
U.S. officials say intelligence suggests ISIS is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and neighbouring Kunar province.
Estimates of its strength in Afghanistan vary. U.S. officials have said they believe the movement has only 700 fighters but Afghan officials estimate it has about 1,500.
ISIS’s offshoot in Afghanistan is suspected of carrying out several attacks on minority Shia Muslim targets.
The Afghan Taliban, which is trying to overthrow the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, are fiercely opposed to ISIS and the two groups have clashed as they seek to expand territory and influence.