The Afghan Defense Ministry announced on Friday that the attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Afghanistan with the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military killed at least 36 Islamic State group fighters. There were no civilian casualties.
For the attack on Thursday, April 13, the US for the first time used what the military colloquially calls the “mother of all bombs”, the GBU-43/B, which has the explosive yield of more than 11 tons of TNT. The massive bomb is dropped from air force planes and detonates before reaching the ground, resulting in an enormous blast radius. Only the Massive Ordnance Penetrator GBU-57, which has never been used in war, is a larger conventional weapon.
The US military reported that the bomb detonated at 7.32pm local time in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar. They expect that the number of casualties may rise.
The answer of President Trump, when asked if the attack was authorized, was:
“Everybody knows exactly what happened. What I do is I authorize my military. We have the greatest military in the world and they’ve done a job as usual. We have given them total authorization and that’s what they’re doing and frankly that’s why they’ve been so successful lately.”
Trump also praised the good work of the US military forces, stating:
“Very, very proud of the people. Really, another successful job! We’re very proud of our military.”
