US drops ‘mother of all bombs’ in Afghanistan: Pentagon

This photo provided by Eglin Air Force Base shows the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb. The Pentagon says U.S. forces in Afghanistan dropped the military’s largest non-nuclear bomb on an Islamic State target in Afghanistan.  (Eglin Air Force Base via AP)

The United States on Thursday has dropped GBU-43 bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat, in Afghanistan against a series of caves used by Islamic State militants, the military said. The massive bomb was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, near Pakistan border, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

This is the the first time US has used this size of bomb in a conflict.

The GBU-43 is a 9,797 kg, GPS-guided munition bomb also known as the “mother of all bombs”. It was first tested in March 2003 days before the start of the Iraq war.

“This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K,” General John Nicholson, the head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement. The damage of the bombing is not clear yet.