A US military strike with a weapon known as the “mother of all bombs” (MOAB) killed 36 IS militants and destroyed their base, the Afghan defence ministry says.
The 21,600lb (9,800kg) bomb was dropped on a tunnel complex used by so-called Islamic State in Nangarhar province.
No civilians were affected by the explosion, the ministry said.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack as “an inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country”.
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Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah confirmed that the attack had been carried out in co-ordination with the government and that “great care had been taken to avoid civilian harm”.
The Afghan defence ministry said the bomb struck a village area in the Momand valley where IS fighters were using a 300m-long network of caves.
It said the bomb also destroyed a large stash of weapons.
Presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi told the BBC that IS commander Siddiq Yar was among those killed. Mr Murtazawi said the IS fighters in the tunnels had “come from Pakistan and were persecuting people in the local area”.
MORE: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39598046
Categories: Afghanistan, Asia, The Muslim Times, United States