US Forces-Afghanistan Commander General John Nicholson has said that Thurday night’s strike in Achin district in Nangarhar was part of their campaign to destroy ISIS in Afghanistan in 2017.

Addressing a press conference in Kabul yesterday, he said the weapon used, the GBU-43, was designed to destroy caves and tunnels and that this had been the “right weapons against the right target.”

 “I want to assure you that our forces took every possible precaution to prevent civilian casualties.”

“We have US Forces at the site and we see no evidence of civilian casualties nor have there been reports,” Nicholson said.

He blasted ISIS for the atrocities they had carried out including suicide bombers attacking peaceful demonstrations, the killing and wounding of hundreds of people, and suicide attacks against mosques.

“ISIS has dragged elders out of their homes in Nangarhar, beheaded them in front of their families. They kidnapped wives and daughters and forced them to marry fighters,” he said.

“Afghan Army and Commandos are leading this fight against these barbaric terrorists on behalf of the people of Afghanistan,” he stated.

He made it clear there will be no sanctuary for ISIS in Afghanistan and said: “We are committed to Afghanistan in this fight.”

The massive bomb was dropped after fighting intensified over the past week and US-backed ground forces struggled to advance on the area.

The number of Islamic State fighters killed by the  massive US bomb has nearly tripled to at least 90, Afghan officials said on Saturday. 

The bomb smashed their mountain hideouts, a tunnel-and-cave complex that had been mined against conventional ground attacks, engulfing the remote area in towering flames.

"At least 92 ISIS fighters were killed in the bombing," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari said today.

Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani gave a toll of 90.