‘MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS’ HITS I.S. CAVES

Bomb equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT kills 36 suspected militants; no civilians harmed

KABUL

AT least 36 suspected Islamic State militants have been killed in Afghanistan when the United States dropped “the mother of all bombs”, one of the largest non-nuclear devices ever unleashed in combat, the Afghan Defence Ministry said yesterday.

The strike on Thursday came as US President Donald Trump dispatches his first high-level delegation here amid uncertainty about his plans for the nearly 9,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The top US military commander in Afghanistan yesterday said his decision to deploy one of the largest conventional bombs used in combat was done in communication with officials in Washington and was a purely tactical decision.

“This was the right weapon for the right target,” General John Nicholson said at a news conference here.

The deaths have not been independently verified, but ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels.

“No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which IS uses to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed,” Waziri said.

The 9,797kg GBU-43 bomb was dropped from an MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar bordering Pakistan, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said on Thursday.

The device is a GPS-guided munition that has never before been used in combat since its first test in 2003, when it produced a mushroom cloud visible from 32km away.

The bomb’s destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War 2, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT.

At a village 5km from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook, but homes and shops appeared unaffected.

“Last night’s bomb was really huge. When it dropped, everywhere, it was shaking,” said resident Palstar Khan, adding that he believed no civilians were hit.

Other residents said they saw militants climbing up and down the mountain every day, making occasional visits to the village.

Yesterday, the village was swarming with Afghan and international troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead.

The strike was part of a joint operation by Afghan and international troops, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office said.

“Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties.”

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the

use of the weapon on Afghan soil.

“This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons,” he said on Twitter.

The Taliban condemned the use of the bomb, saying it “cannot be justified and will leave a material and psychological impact on our people”.

US officials said the bomb had been positioned for possible use in Afghanistan for “some time” since the administration of former president Barack Obama.

The US has intensified its air campaign against IS and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, with the air force deploying nearly 500 weapons in the first three months of this year, up from 300 in the same period last year.

Thursday’s strike was not the first time IS fighters have been targeted by heavy US bombardment in Nangarhar, where a US special forces soldier was killed battling militants a week ago.

American military officials estimate there are around 600 to 800 IS fighters in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar.

The United Nations has raised concerns that the American air campaign is contributing to a rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan.