US drops ‘mother of all bombs’ on ISIS targets in Afghanistan

The United States military has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan, CNN reports.

Four US military officials were quoted as saying the bomb was dropped at 7pm, Afghanistan time, on Thursday.

The explosive, a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, is nicknamed the “mother of all bombs”.

According to the report, the target of the strike was ISIS tunnels and extremists in the Achin district of Nangarhar province.

Military sources were quoted as saying that the bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by air force special operations command.

The MOAB, a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition, is said to be America’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb.

John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, reportedly signed off on the use of the bomb.

The bomb which was first developed during the Iraq war has never been used before in combat.