Afghanistan: Massive US bomb kills 36 Islamic State fighters

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A strike by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military killed 36 Islamic State group militants and left no civilian casualties, hitting a tunnel complex in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Friday.

The massive bomb terrified villagers 20 miles away across the border in Pakistan with a blast they described as earsplitting.

American 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 group, which has a far smaller, but growing presence in Afghanistan — an apparent reflection of President Donald Trump’s vows for a more no-holds-barred campaign against the group.

The strike was carried out against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved in the mountains that Afghan forces have tried repeatedly in past weeks to assault in fierce fighting in recent weeks in Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. The Afghan Ministry of Defense said in a statement that several IS caves and ammunition caches were destroyed by the bomb.

“This is the right weapon for the right target,” said U.S. Gen. John W. Nicholson, NATO commander in Afghanistan, at a news conference.

The bomb, known officially as a GBU-43B, or massive ordnance air blast weapon, unleashes 11 tons of explosives. Footage put out by the Pentagon showed the bomb slamming into a mountainside overlooking a river valley, causing a giant blast that overwhelms the landscape then sends up a massive column of black smoke. Agricultural terrasses are visible in the footage, but no population centers.

The Islamic State group’s news agency Aamaq denied that the strike caused any deaths or wounded in a one-line statement put out on its social media channels, citing a “source” within the group.

But Gen. Daulat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, said 36 IS fighters were killed, and that the death toll could likely rise. He said Afghan forces were at the tunnel complex assessing the damage.

He said the bombing was necessary because the complex was extremely hard to penetrate, with some tunnels as deep as 40 meters (43 yards).

“It was a strong position and four times we had operations (attacking the site) and it was not possible to advance,” he said, adding that the road leading to the complex “was full of mines.”

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

“I was sleeping when we heard a loud explosion. It was an earsplitting blast,” said Shah Wali, 46, who lives in the village of Goor Gari, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border with Nangarhar. “I jumped from my bed and came out of my home to see what has gone wrong in our village.”