The Afghan Ministry of Defense said Friday that 36 ISIS fighters and no civilians were killed when the U.S. dropped a massive bomb on a militant tunnel complex the day before.

(Via AP) A strike by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military killed 36 Islamic State group militants and left no civilian casualties, hitting a tunnel complex in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Friday.

The massive bomb terrified villagers 20 miles away across the border in Pakistan with a blast they described as earsplitting.

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American and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years. But the U.S. military brought out the biggest conventional bomb in its arsenal for the first time to hit the Islamic State group, which has a far smaller, but growing presence in Afghanistan — an apparent reflection of President Donald Trump’s vows for a more no-holds-barred campaign against the group.

The strike was carried out against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved in the mountains that Afghan forces have tried repeatedly in past weeks to assault in fierce fighting in recent weeks in Nangarhar province, Afghan officials said. The Afghan Ministry of Defense said in a statement that several IS caves and ammunition caches were destroyed by the bomb.

“This is the right weapon for the right target,” said U.S. Gen. John W. Nicholson, NATO commander in Afghanistan, at a news conference. (read more)

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General John Nicholson (Right) who authorized MOAB drop, with General Joe Votel, Commander of CENTCOM

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