AFGHANISTAN — The US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission.
A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, the sources said.
The MOAB is also known as the “mother of all bombs.” A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb.
The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the military sources.
They said the target was ISIS tunnels and personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
The military is currently assessing the damage. Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the use of the bomb, according to the sources.
This is the first time a MOAB has been used in the battlefield, according to the US officials. This munition was developed during the Iraq War.
The US has dropped “the mother of all bombs” on ISIS fighters and hideouts in Afghanistan — the largest non-nuclear explosive ever used in wartime, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, military sources told CNN.
A MOAB — nicknamed the mother of all bombs — is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb.
The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, flown by Air Force Special Operations Command, the network said.
The target was tunnels used by ISIS terrorists in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
The military is doing a damage assessment so casualty figures were not immediately clear.
Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the use of the bomb, according to the sources.
US officials said it was the first time the bomb — developed during the Iraq War — had been used on the battlefield
President Trump during the campaign promised to “bomb the sh-t” out of ISIS, and this escalation could be the first sign of that policy in action.
The U.S. military has dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb, the so-called Massive Ordnance Air Blast” often called by its nickname, the “Mother of All Bombs”(MOAB), on an ISIS tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan, marking the first time that such a weapon has been used.
The GBU-43, a 21,600 lb bomb, was first developed in the Iraq war but has never been used on the battlefield.
The airstrike occurred at about 7:32 p.m. local time on Thursday when a U.S. aircraft dropped a GBU-43 bomb on an ISIS tunnel complex in Achin district in Nangarhar province.
U.S. Forces-Afghanistan said in a statement that the weapon was used to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces which are conducting clearing operations in the area, while maximizing the destruction of ISIS fighters and facilities.
“As ISIS-K’s losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense,” said General John W. Nicholson, the commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. “This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K.”
The military said the results of the bombing were not immediately known, but said it had taken “every precaution” to avoid civilian casualties.