NEW YORK (AA) – The U.S. military dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal on a Daesh target in Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday.
It was the first combat use of the GBU-43, dubbed the “Mother of All Bombs”, agency spokesman Adam Stump told Anadolu Agency.
The large-yield bomb contains 11 tons of explosives and was dropped at 7.32 p.m. local time, by an MC-130 military aircraft on a tunnel complex in the Achin district of Nangarhar province at 7.32 p.m. (1502GMT) local time, Stump said.
The White House said the complex of tunnels and caves made it easier for Daesh to target U.S. military advisers and Afghan forces, according to spokesman Sean Spier. The strike sought to deny operational space to the group, "which we did”, he added.
“The strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities,” Stump said. ISIS-K stands for the Khorasan branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, another name for Daesh terror group.
The U.S. “took every precaution” to avoid civilian casualties, Stump said.