Video shows 'Mother of All Bombs' dropped by U.S. on Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN (WABC) -- A Department of Defense video released Friday shows the moment the United States bombed Afghanistan with the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in its arsenal.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB (nicknamed the "Mother of All Bombs"), hit an Islamic State cave and tunnel systems in eastern Afghanistan around 7:30 p.m. local time Thursday.

The bomb unleashed 11 tons of explosives and killed at least 36 ISIS militants, Afghan officials said.

The strike was designed to maximize "the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities and eliminate any perceived safe haven for ISIS-K in Afghanistan," according to the video post.

The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that several ISIS caves and ammunition caches were destroyed by the giant bomb, which terrified villagers on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with its "earsplitting blast."

Pakistani villagers living near the Afghan border said the explosion was so loud they thought a bomb had been dropped in their village by U.S. warplanes targeting terrorists in Pakistan.

Gen. Daulat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, said the death toll could rise.

The U.S. estimates 600 to 800 IS fighters are present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The U.S. has concentrated heavily on combatting them while also supporting Afghan forces battling the Taliban. President Donald Trump called Thursday's operation a "very, very successful mission."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.