US drops 'mother of all bombs' on IS in Afghanistan

The US military yesterday dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat, targeting an Islamic State complex in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb hit a "tunnel complex" in Achin district in Nangarhar province, US Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.

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The strike occurred at 7:32pm (1502 GMT), according to AFP.

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

Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said the bomb was delivered via an MC-130 transport plane.

"As (ISIS-Khorasan's) losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence," said General John Nicholson, who heads US Forces Afghanistan.

"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, "We must deny them operational space, which we did."

It was not immediately clear how much damage the bomb did.

Also known as the "mother of all bombs," the GBU-43 is a 21,600 pound (9,797 kg) GPS-guided munition and was first tested in March 2003, just days before the start of the Iraq war, reports Reuters.

According to the Air Force, the last time the bomb was tested in 2003, a huge mushroom cloud could be seen from 32 kilometres away.