The tally of ISIS terrorists killed by the MOAB bomb dropped Thursday by the U.S. military in Afghanistan is up to 94, Afghan officials say.
Initial reports had the death toll at 36 Islamic State (ISIS) operatives, but a new assessment by the government has scaled that number upward as more information of the aftermath of the bomb drop comes in.
“The number of Daesh [ISIS] fighters killed in the US bomb in Achin district jumped to 94, including four commanders,” a Nangarhar Province spokesman told the media on Saturday.
“Our team is in the area and they are doing clearance, so the figure might change as they find more bodies,” a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense said.
On Friday, U.S. officials called the use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) the right weapon at the right time.
“This was the right weapon against the right target,” Gen. John Nicholson, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said.
The MOAB is the U.S. military’s largest non-nuclear bomb, weighing in at over 25,000 pounds. The Thursday deployment was the first time the bomb has ever been used in the field since its testing in 2013.
The Afghan government worked closely with the Trump administration during the planning stages for dropping the bomb and gave use of the MOAB its approval.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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