Afghanistan was in loop when US bombed IS target

The Afghanistan government has said that it was in the loop when the US forces dropped the "mother of all bombs" in eastern Afghanistan to target the hideouts of Islamic State terror group.

At least 36 IS militants were killed when the US military dropped a massive GBU-43, a non-nuclear, 10-tonne missile powered by a wave of air pressure, on an IS hideout in Achin district of Nangarhar province on Thursday, Kabul's Ministry of Defence announced.

The Office of the President, ARG Palace, said on Friday that the strike took place in close coordination between the Afganistan forces and foreign troops based in the country, reported Khaama Press.

 

"Precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties with this airstrike," President Ashraf Ghani said on Twitter.

A large amount of ammunition and weapons were also destroyed in the airstrike, said an official.

The statement said that the Afghanistan forces will continue their fight to eliminate terrorism and to maintain peace and stability in the country and around the world as they are on the frontline against various terrorist groups.

The US Forces in Afghanistan in a statement said: "At 7.32 p.m. (local time) Thursday, US Forces-Afghanistan conducted a strike on an ISIS tunnel complex in Achin district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, as part of ongoing efforts to defeat the terror group in Afghanistan in 2017."

The commadner of the US forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson said: "As ISIS's losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence. This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintian the momentum of our offensive against the group."

US President Donald Trump called the bombing "another successful job."

It was the third major military action his administration took in recent months, following a military raid in Yemen that left some civilians and a US Marine dead, and last week's surprise strike on a Syrian airfield.

--IANS

soni/vt