The United States has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in its military arsenal in Afghanistan, Sputnik reported citing NBC News.
The bomb was used against a large group of Daesh terror group in east Afghanistan.
Later, the Pentagon confirmed that the GBU-43 bomb dubbed "the Mother of All Bombs" was dropped in the Nangarhar province.
The bombing targeted series of Daesh caves.
"At 7:32 pm local time today, US Forces — Afghanistan conducted a strike on an ISIS-K tunnel [Daesh] complex in Achin district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, as part of ongoing efforts to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan in 2017," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a press release. "The strike used a GBU-43 bomb dropped from a US aircraft."
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast is a large-yield conventional non-nuclear bomb which was considered to be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever developed at the time of its creation.
This was the first time the bomb was dropped in a combat action. It has been in service since 2003.
It was dropped from a MC-130 jet, according to Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump.
The release added that the CENTCOM planned the strike with minimum risk to Afghan and US forces that are currently present in the area.
CENTCOM assured the United States took all necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties during this operation.