Donald Trump announced that he is "very proud" of dropping the "mother of all bombs" on Afghanistan, writes the Independent. The United States casted from cargo planes the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in Nangarhar province near the Pakistani border, a remote area where ISIS operates.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that the targets were tunnels and caves in which ISIS members were able to "freely move around." Trump praised the US military and said that the mission was "very successful." "Everybody knows exactly what happened, and I give authority to our army.
We have the largest army in the world and it has done its job as usual, so we gave them full authority," said Trump.
An order was signed by General Joseph Hollow and the Pentagon confirmed that General John Nicholson was "given the power" to attack ISIS. It is not yet clear whether the attack was part of a "full authority" or a special Trump command to General Nicholson.
36 people killed
The most powerful American non-nuclear bomb destroyed the network of tunnels used by the Islamic countries and killed at least 36 of its fighters, the government of Afghanistan on Friday rejected the possibility of civilian casualties. Bomb GBU- /B, also called the "mother of all bombs" struck a mainstay of IS in the district of Asa, in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
"The strategic positions of IS and deep tunnel complex were destroyed and 36 soldiers were killed," announced the ministry of defense. The Afghan presidential palace said that measures had been taken to avoid civilian casualties. Originally, the bomb was conceived to frighten the enemy and for clearing large areas. It is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat, the US Air Force announced.
Chinese warning
North Korea announced today that Trump's "problematic and aggressive" tweets pushed the world to the brink of thermonuclear war, the Daily Mail reports. North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Han Song Ryol accused Trump of creating a "vicious circle of tension" and warned the United States not to provoke the army: "We will go to war if they want it."
His comments came after the publication of the possibility of a sixth nuclear test in North Korea.
China immediately responded and said that anyone who provokes conflict will "pay the price." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that "there will be no winners" in a war that could begin at any moment. "Talk is the only possible solution," said Yi in Beijing.
