Massive U.S. bomb's death toll rises to 94, Afghan official says - latimes

Afghan officials said Saturday that 94 militants were killed in a massive U.S. bomb blast targeting Islamic State’s regional affiliate, nearly three times as many as was reported a day earlier.

Ismail Shinwari, governor of Achin district in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, where the 20,000-pound bomb struck Thursday evening, said there were no reports of civilian casualties

The dead included several leaders of the Islamic State affiliate, which is loosely connected to the main militant organization based in Iraq and Syria, Afghan officials said.

U.S. military officials said the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb — dubbed the “mother of all bombs,” the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat — targeted an underground network of caves and tunnels that Islamic State fighters had used for weeks to evade an ongoing operation by U.S. and Afghan forces.

The Afghan government said it had worked with the U.S. military to coordinate the bomb strike, a sharp escalation of the U.S. fight against Islamic State in Afghanistan.

But the use of the massive weapon has also drawn criticism, including from former President Hamid Karzai, who told a gathering in Kabul on Saturday that it amounted to “a national treason.” - Read More

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