New footage shows the US unleashing the biggest non-nuclear bomb ever against ISIS targets in Afghanistan.

The 21,600lb (9,797kg) GBU-43/B device, dubbed the “mother of all bombs” (MOAB), was dropped on a series of cave complexes at 7pm local time (4pm UK time) on Thursday.

The bomb has a destructive power equivalent to 11 tonnes of explosives.

Afghanistan's Defence Ministry today said that no civilians were harmed as it put the initial death toll at 36 militants.

A local government spokesman and police commander told Afghan media that 82 militants had been killed.

(Image: REUTERS)

However, ISIS denied suffering any deaths or casualties in the strike.

In a statement released via its Amaq News Agency, the group said that none of its fighters had been killed in the incident.

The statement came after US Army Gen John Nicholson, the commander of US troops in Afghanistan, defended the decision to use the bomb and denied that it was influenced by outside events.

After the attack there was speculation that the bombing was carried out as a threat to North Korea amid mounting tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear programme.