BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military on Thursday dropped a GBU-43, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, on an Islamic State (IS) cave complex in Afghanistan, killing at least 36 suspected IS militants and producing a mushroom cloud visible from 32 km away.
It was the first time that the U.S. military has used in combat such a bomb, dubbed the "Mother of All Bombs," a smart re-interpretation of the initials MOAB.
The bomb weighs about 9.5 tons, with 8.2 tons of explosives filled. Its destructive power depends on the formula of the explosives, and it can be eight times as powerful when filled with specific explosives.
Experts say that the bomb's munition is not ordinary one, but high-energy fuel which is more effective when used to hit hideouts like caves and tunnels.
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