Afghans: US blast killed 36 ISIS militants, no civilians

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, according to reports.

The Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), the largest non-nuclear bomb in the American arsenal, was used for the first time in combat Thursday on a series of ISIS tunnels in remote eastern Afghanistan. Officials in Kabul said it destroyed multiple ISIS ammunition caches.

Local villagers told The Associated Press they could see smoke from several miles away.

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“I was sleeping when we heard a loud explosion. It was an earsplitting blast,” Shah Wali, 46, told the AP.

The MOAB, or “Mother of All Bombs,” weighs about 25,000 pounds and had previously only ever been used in testing.

The area’s district governor said no civilian property is located near the site of the strike.

On Thursday, President Trump hailed “another successful event,” saying he was “very, very proud” of the military.

“If you look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks and compare that to what’s really happened over the last eight years, you’ll see there is a tremendous difference. Tremendous difference,” Trump said.

The U.S. estimates there are 600 to 800 ISIS fighters in Afghanistan.