JALALABAD, Afghanistan, (MILLAT ONLINE/APP/AFP) – The death
toll from America’s largest non-nuclear bomb has nearly tripled,
with Afghan officials saying Saturday some 90 Islamic State
fighters died when the blast smashed their mountain hideout, as
US-led forces began clean-up operations.
Dubbed the “Mother Of All Bombs”, the GBU-43/B Massive
Ordnance Air Blast bomb was unleashed in combat for the first
time Thursday, hitting IS positions in a remote, rugged area
of eastern Nangarhar province.
The unprecedented attack triggered global shock waves,
with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called
a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group
that is not considered a threat as big as the resurgent Taliban.
The bomb smashed the IS’s remote mountain hideouts, a
tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional
ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in a huge mushroom
cloud and towering flames.
“At least 92 Daesh (IS) fighters were killed in the
bombing,” Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told AFP
on Saturday.
Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave
a toll of 90, far higher than the initial toll of 36 IS fighters
given by Afghan officials.
Shinwari insisted there were “no military and civilian
casualties at all”, adding that Afghan commandos and American
troops are carrying out clean-up operations in the area.