US releases footage of 'mother of all bombs' being dropped

The Pentagon on Friday released video footage of the moment that the GBU-43 bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, destroyed a complex of caves and tunnels of the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan.

The aerial images show the moment when the so-called "mother of all bombs", which had never been used until this Thursday, hit the side of a mountain in the Achin district of Nangarhar province with a explosive power equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, Efe news reported.

An immense column of smoke and debris appears after the explosion in order to create a powerful expanding shock wave capable of demolishing tunnels and bunkers by setting off a small earthquake.

The video shows with just how much power the expanding wave blasted the remote mountainous area in eastern Afghanistan that the IS had made one of its strongholds.

The attack occurred at 7.32 p.m. on Thursday, and according to Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Radmanesh, at least 37 IS militants died in the blast.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday that the goal was to destroy a system of tunnels and caves that the IS in Afghanistan "used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area".

--IANS

vgu/vm