Two American service members based in eastern Afghanistan were killed Wednesday night during an operation targeting Islamic State militants, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

The two service members, whose names have not yet been released, were killed in Nangarhar, an eastern Afghan province bordering Pakistan where much of the U.S.’s fight against ISIS militants has taken place. Attahullah Khogyani, a Nangarhar government spokesman, told Reuters the raid was conducted in coordination with Afghan and U.S. forces, and resulted in the deaths of 40 ISIS fighters.

The province is the same one where two weeks ago the U.S. military dropped one of its largest non-nuclear devices. Dubbed the “mother of all bombs,” the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) targeted caves and tunnels used by ISIS in the Achin district. The device’s use follows an overall increase in U.S. military airstrikes carried out in Afghanistan since the Trump administration took office.

As my colleague Krishnadev Calamur reported, ISIS is a relative newcomer to Afghanistan, with U.S. estimates putting the group’s numbers at around 700 fighters (though Afghan officials say it’s closer to 1,500). Still, the group enjoys a stronghold in Nangarhar province and has been able to claim a number of high-profile attacks, often against civilians. A U.S. special-operation forces soldier was killed in the fighting the area a few days before the U.S. dropped the “mother of all bombs.” </s> US ‘Mother of All Bombs’ killed 36 Islamic State militants in Afghanistan

The GBU-43/B, also known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, detonates during a test at Elgin Air Force Base, Florida November 21, 2003 in this handout photo provided April 13, 2017. — Reuters picKABUL, April 14 — As many as 36 suspected Islamic State militants were killed in Afghanistan when the United States dropped “the Mother of All Bombs,” its largest non-nuclear device ever unleashed in combat, the Afghan defence ministry said today.

Yesterday's strike came as US President Donald Trump dispatches his first high-level delegation to Kabul, amid uncertainty about his plans for the nearly 9,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The deaths have not been independently verified, but ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels.

“No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed,” Waziri said in a statement.

He was using an Arabic term that refers to Islamic State, which has established a small stronghold in eastern Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks on the capital, Kabul.

The 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43 bomb, which has 11 tons of explosives, was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said yesterday.

The device, also known as the “Mother of All Bombs,” is a GPS-guided munition that had never before been used in combat since its first test in 2003, when it produced a mushroom cloud visible from 32 km away.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai condemned the use of the weapon on Afghan soil.

“This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons,” he said on social media network Twitter.

At a village about five km from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, homes and shops appeared unaffected by the blast, a Reuters witness said.

Residents said they saw militants climbing up and down the mountain every day, making occasional visits to the village.

“They were Arabs, Pakistanis, Chinese and local insurgents coming to buy from shops in the bazaar,” said resident Raz Mohammad.

Today, the village was swarming with Afghan and international troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead.

The strike was part of a joint operation between Afghan and international troops, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said in a statement.

“Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties,” it said.

American officials said the bomb had been positioned for possible use in Afghanistan for “some time” since the administration of former president Barack Obama.

The United States has steadily intensified its air campaign against Islamic State and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, with the Air Force deploying nearly 500 weapons in the first three months of 2017, up from 300 in the corresponding 2016 period. — Reuters </s> The death toll of America's 'mother of all bombs' attack on Afghanistan has risen to 94 ISIS members including four terrorist leaders, an Afghan official said.

Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier.

A Ministry of Defense official said on Friday that the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district.

'Fortunately, there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack,' Mr Khogyani said.

But the increased death toll in Nangarhar was announced as officials in southern Helmand province reported that at least 11 civilians were killed and one wounded in two roadside bomb blasts overnight.

The US attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Mr Khogyani said.

He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing.

The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, known as the Mother Of All Bombs, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains which Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks during fierce fighting in Nangarhar province.

On Saturday, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai criticized both the Afghan and US governments for the attack.

Addressing a gathering in the capital, Kabul, Mr Karzai said that allowing the US to carry out the bombing was 'a national treason' and an insult to Afghanistan.

Current President Ashraf Ghani's office said on Friday that there was 'close co-ordination' between the US military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties.

President Donald Trump called it a 'very, very successful mission' and some Afghan residents have welcomed the blast and even called for more.

The US estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. America has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The US has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations. </s> A US strike on so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan using the "mother of all bombs" killed at least 36 militants, the country's defence ministry has said.

The Pentagon confirmed the GBU-43 was dropped on caves in Nangarhar Province, very close to the border with Pakistan, on Thursday.

Its nickname is based on the acronym used by the US Air Force, which calls it the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb.

The White House confirmed the "large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon" was dropped around 7pm local time.

Afghan defence minister spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the strike, a claim that has not been independently verified.

"No civilian has been hurt and only the base which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed," Waziri said. </s> The number of ISIS militants killed in Thursday’s U.S. military strike in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, has reportedly risen to 94, an Afghan official revealed on Saturday. According to military sources, the 21,000 lb GBU-43 massive ordinance blast weapon used in the attack on Thursday was the largest non-nuclear weapon the U.S. military has ever used in combat.

The Associated Press reports that Ataullah Khogyani, a spokesperson for the governor of Afghanistan’s remote Nangarhar province, said in a statement released on Saturday that the number of ISIS militants who died in the “Mother Of All Bombs” attack launched on Thursday had risen from 36 reported on Friday to “at least 94.”

At least four ISIS military leaders were also killed in the attack, Khogyani claimed.

“Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack,” he added.

The statement by the spokesperson for the governor of Nangarhar came after an Afghan Ministry of Defense official said on Friday that ongoing clearance and assessment of the bomb site in the Achin district of Nangarhar indicated that the number of dead could rise.

Khogyani said that the latest death figure was received from Afghan military personnel involved in clearance operations and assessment of the site following the massive blast attack. He added that the assessment was still ongoing, suggesting that the figure could rise further.

According to a previous statement by the U.S. military, the MOAB attack was targeted at a tunnel complex in the remote eastern Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan where ISIS militants are known to be based. The bomb strike hit an extensive network of tunnels dug into the mountains. The attack was launched on Thursday after Afghan forces had tried repeatedly to capture the tunnels in fierce and prolonged fighting with ISIS militants in the province.

Soon after the attack, a U.S. commander in Afghanistan said that the bomb had achieved it intended purpose, implying that the tunnel had been destroyed.

“This weapon was used against Isis-K and their sanctuary inside Afghanistan,” NATO forces commander General John Nicholson said., according to the AP. “The purpose of this operation was to eliminate their sanctuary inside Southern Nangarhar. The weapon achieved its intended purpose.”

But ISIS later released a counter-statement denying that any of its militants were killed or injured in the blast attack.

And later on Saturday, during an address delivered at an event in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, the former president of the country, criticized the Afghan government for allowing the U.S. military to launch the bomb attack. He said that allowing the U.S. military to launch such an attack in Nangarhar was an insult to Afghans. He added that the action amounted to what he termed “national treason.”

But the administration of President Ashraf Ghani had said earlier on Friday that the Afghan military authorities were working closely with U.S. military forces in the country to coordinate operations against ISIS militants based in the area. He also said that the operations were being conducted with care taken to prevent civilian casualties.

U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan estimate that ISIS could have up to 800 fighters in the country, with most operating in the remote eastern Nangarhar province. The U.S. forces in Afghanistan, about 8,000-strong, are involved with their Afghan counterparts in military operations against ISIS in the Nangarhar area, as well as against Taliban insurgents operating in the country.

U.S. personnel in the country are engaged mostly in training local forces and carrying out counter-terrorism operations, according to the AP.

The MOAB weapon used on Thursday is a GPS-guided weapon that was first tested in 2003 and has not been used in combat since them. The weapon’s blast generates a mushroom cloud that can be seen from about 20 kilometers away. </s> America drops Mother of All Bombs in Afghanistan

America drops Mother of All Bombs in Afghanistan

America drops Mother of All Bombs in Afghanistan

A huge bomb, equivalent to 11 tons of dynamite, has been used against ISIS in Afghanistan by the United States of America.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb – better known by its nickname, the “Mother Of All Bombs” – hit a tunnel complex in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump called the mission “very, very successful.”

The huge bomb, delivered via an MC-130 transport plane, has a blast yield equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, and the weapon was originally designed as much to intimidate foes as to clear broad areas.

“The GBU-43/B is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat,” Air Force spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said.

“The explosion was the biggest I have ever seen. Towering flames engulfed the area,” said Achin District Governor Esmail Shinwari.

“We don’t know anything about the casualties so far, but since it is an ISIS stronghold we think a lot of Islamic State fighters may have been killed,” Shinwari said.

US Navy Captain Bill Salvin, spokesman for US Forces Afghanistan, said that a bomb damage assessment was being carried out.

As to the possibility of civilian casualties from such a huge weapon, Salvin said: “Friendly forces scouted the area and noted the lack of civilian presence.

The target was chosen to ensure the maximum effect against (IS) while preventing civilian casualties.”

The strike hit a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters had used to “move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces” nearby, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

“We must deny them operational space, which we did,” Spicer added.

The Afghan government was aware of the US plan to bomb the ISIS tunnel complex, presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi suggested.

“Heavy casualties have been inflicted on the enemy,” Murtazawi said on Facebook, ruling out the possibility of civilian casualties.

The Mother of All Bombs OAB was developed in 2003, around the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The US military on Tuesday said an American special forces soldier had been killed while conducting operations against ISIS in Nangarhar.

Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37, died on 8 April in Nangarhar Province of injuries sustained when his unit came in contact with ISIS fighters. </s> An Afghan official says the number of militants killed in an attack by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military has risen to 94. (Source: Raycom Media)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The number of militants killed in an attack by the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military has risen to 94, an Afghan official said Saturday.

Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar, said the number of Islamic State group dead was up from the 36 reported a day earlier. A Ministry of Defense official had said Friday the number of dead could rise as officials assessed the bomb site in Achin district.

"Fortunately there is no report of civilians being killed in the attack," Khogyani said.

The increased death toll in Nangarhar was announced as officials in southern Helmand province reported at least 11 civilians were killed and one wounded in two roadside bomb blasts overnight.

The U.S. attack on a tunnel complex in remote eastern Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border killed at least four IS group leaders, Khogyani said. He said a clearance operation to assess the site of the attack was continuing.

The strike using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, was carried out Thursday against an Islamic State group tunnel complex carved into the mountains that Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks in fierce fighting in Nangarhar province.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday criticized both the Afghan and U.S. governments for the attack in Nangarhar. Addressing a gathering in capital Kabul, Karzai said that allowing the U.S. to carry out the bombing was "treason" and an insult to Afghanistan.

Current President Ashraf Ghani's office said Friday there was "close coordination" between the U.S. military and the Afghan government on the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties.

The U.S. estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The U.S. has concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The U.S. has more than 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations.

In Helmand province, at least 11 civilians were killed and one wounded in two roadside bomb blasts late Friday evening, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor.

"All victims of the attack were innocent civilians including women and children," said Zwak. The 11 died in a blast in Nawa district when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Another person was wounded when a second bomb exploded in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, he said.

Also on Saturday, Khogyani said a district leader and three others were wounded when their vehicle was targeted by a bomb. One of the wounded was Ghalib Mujahid, Bati Kot district chief, he said.

"The district chief and others are out of danger and are not in life-threatening condition," he said.

Last November, Mujahid was attacked by a sticky bomb attached to the vehicle and he was wounded and his driver was killed.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> KABUL (CNN) -- At least 94 Islamic State fighters were killed when the US military dropped America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS targets in Afghanistan, an Afghan official said Saturday.

"The number of Daesh fighters killed in the US bomb in Achin district jumped to 94, including four commanders," Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogiani told CNN, using an alternative name for ISIS.

"Our team is in the area and they are doing clearance, so the figure might change as they find more bodies," said Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense.

The initial toll given by Afghan officials for Thursday's strike was 36. A statement released Friday through ISIS' media wing, Amaq News Agency, said none of the terror group's fighters were killed or injured. CNN cannot independently confirm the number of casualties.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" for its extraordinary force, was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time Thursday, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission.

The strike targeted a network of fortified underground tunnels that ISIS had been using to stage attacks on government forces in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border.

The blast destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt, Afghan and US officials said.

US military: 'Right weapon, right target'

The US military defended its decision when it was quizzed Friday on whether the 21,600-pound behemoth was necessary for that particular target.

The 30-foot-long, GPS-guided bomb is capable of destroying an area equivalent to nine city blocks.

"This was the right weapon against the right target," Gen. John Nicholson, commander for US forces in Afghanistan, said at a news conference.

"It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield."

The US military previously estimated ISIS had 600 to 800 active fighters in the area.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he approved of the strike, and it was designed to support Afghan and US forces conducting clearance operations in the region.

But former President Hamid Karzai accused the United States of using Afghanistan as "a testing ground for new and dangerous weapons."

President Donald Trump said this week he would be sending his new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. HR McMaster, to Afghanistan "to find out how we can make progress alongside our Afghan partners and NATO allies."

White House officials won't detail precisely when that visit will take place but say it will come "soon."

Trump described the Afghanistan bombing as "another very, very successful mission." It came a week after he authorized a US missile strike against a Syrian government air base -- the first US strike against the Syrian government in the country's six-year civil war.

Residents in Afghan villages near the target area felt Thursday's powerful strike.

One resident living around 2 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the blast told CNN he heard an "extremely loud boom that smashed the windows of our house."

"We were all scared, and my children and my wife were crying. We thought it had happened right in front of our house," he said.

"I have witnessed a countless number of explosions and bombings in the last 30 years of war in Afghanistan, but this one was more powerful than any other bomb as far as I remember."

Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said the colossal MOAB was dropped after fighting had intensified over the last week. US and Afghan forces had been unable to advance because ISIS -- which has expanded into Afghanistan in recent years -- had mined the area with explosives.

Locals told CNN that more than 3,000 families had fled the district in the past year or so since the militant group established its presence.

One man, who did not want to give his name for fear of ISIS retaliation, said there were no civilians left in the area the group controlled.

The region butts up against the porous Pakistan border. The rocky landscape is dotted with caves and defensive tunnels, making it easy to hold and hard to attack, according to Nic Robertson, CNN's international diplomatic editor, who has reported from the Afghan mountains. </s> ISIS fighters have lost 36 people as a result of the US strike against their base in Afghanistan. Key cashes of terrorists and a complex of tunnels have also been destroyed. As the Afghan Defence Ministry reported, there were no victims among peaceful civilians.

The US claimed overnight that the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast has been used operationally for the first time in Afghanistan. The bomb is also known as the Mother of All Bombs. As they said in the Pentagon, the strike was carried out on the Achin region of the Nangarhar province Thursday. The aim was ISIS fighters and system of tunnels they used.

The US President Donald Trump said the strike was a very successful mission.

Meanwhile former CIA agent Edward Snowden revealed what the Americans bombed in Afghanistan in reality. According to him, they struck tunnels building of which was funded by the US. The New York Times has also written that construction of the base for Mujahideen had been funded by the CIA.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense reports as many as 36 suspected ISIL militants were killed while no civilians were harmed in yesterday's bombing in Nangarhar Province using the so-called "mother of all bombs" (GBU-43). The ministry spokesman added these deaths have not been independently verified.