36 ISIS militants killed by 'mother of all bombs': Afghan officials
The MOAB was used for the first time on Thursday.
— -- Thirty-six ISIS militants were killed but no civilians died when the U.S. military dropped the "mother of all bombs" on a cave complex in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, according to the Afghan Ministry of Defense.
The 22,000-pound bomb was used for the first time in combat on Thursday, when it was deployed from an MC-130 aircraft targeting the Achin district near the Pakistan border.
According to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, caves and ammunition caches were also destroyed.
ABC News has not been able to independently verify the claims.
The “earsplitting blast” could be heard on both sides of the border, The Associated Press reported, citing the Afghan Ministry of Defense.
The bomb -- known officially as GBU-43/B, or massive ordnance air blast (MOAB) bomb -- is one of the largest non-nuclear weapons in the U.S. military’s arsenal. It was first developed in 2003.
Between 600 and 800 ISIS militants are believed to be in Afghanistan, a Department of Defense official told ABC News.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report from the Pentagon.