The top US military commander in Afghanistan has defended the decision to use the "mother of all bombs" on an ISIS stronghold and denied that it was influenced by outside events.

Dozens of militants were killed in the strike, with some Afghan officials putting the death toll at 82, and no civilian casualties were reported in the bombing which comes as the US is locked in tense situations with North Korea, Syria and Russia.

US Army Gen John Nicholson, the commander of US troops in Afghanistan, told reporters on Friday that it was purely a tactical decision to use the GBU-43 bomb to obliterate a network of caves and deep tunnels that ISIS was using to move around the battlefield and hide.

He called the network an "obstacle" for Afghan and US forces in their bid to drive murderous ISIS members out of the region, adding: "This was the right weapon against the right target.”

Gen Nicholson spoke to reporters as joint forces continued to target militants with helicopter strikes in the area where the GPS-guided bomb fell less than 24 hours earlier.

(Image: AFP)

(Image: REUTERS)

US military press conference after “Mother of all Bombs”

The massive GBU-43 bomb that was dropped on Thursday night was the largest non-nuclear bomb the US has ever used in combat, with a destructive power equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT.

Footage released by the UK military showed the 21,600lb (9,797kg) device being dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, near the border with Pakistan, before a mushroom cloud fills the sky.

Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar Province, claimed that 82 militants were killed and three tunnels had been destroyed.

(Image: Reuters)

(Image: Reuters)

Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri had put the death toll at 36 earlier, saying three caves were destroyed at the base ISIS used to launch attacks in the region.

Waziri said: "No civilian has been hurt and only the base which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed.

After the attack there was speculation that the bombing was carried out as a threat to North Korea.

(Image: AFP)

Donald Trump speaks after Afghanistan bombing

Gen Nicholson said the decision to use the bomb “is not related to any outside events other than our focus to destroying Daesh in 2017”.

He added: “There will be no sanctuary for Daesh in Afghanistan.”

The general said there were no reports of civilian casualties and US forces took "every possible precaution" to prevent them as they worked in conjunction with Afghan officials.

He said the ISIS members who were targeted have terrorised the region, dragging elders out of their homes and beheading them in front of their families, launching suicide attacks and kidnapping wives and daughters and forcing them to marry fighters.

(Image: Reuters)

People who live near the ISIS camp that was targeted have heard explosions before, but they described the force of “mother of all bombs” as unprecedented.

Achin District Governor Esmail Shinwari said: "The explosion was the biggest I have ever seen Towering flames engulfed the area."

Residents told the New York Times that four houses about three miles from the blast site were completely destroyed.

A tribal elder added that shrapnel and rocks as heavy as five pounds fell on his house after the explosion shook the area.

Journalist Qadir Sediqi spoke to people who live in the region and tweeted that a tribal elder told him he had "never heard such a huge and strong boom".

The elder also told Sediqi that people who live near the bombed area were alerted hours in advance and some were evacuated to a safe area.

Journalist Habib Khan Totakhil wrote on Twitter that he spoke to a man who lives about a mile from the site, and the force of the bomb blew out windows at his home and cracked a wall.

The man told him that the explosion was "horrifying" and like "something he has never heard" before.

Civilians told the journalist that they saw flames and the blast was heard as far as 12 miles away.

They added that the area was no longer ISIS control.

(Image: Rex Features)

(Image: Getty Images)

Journalists were waiting to gain access to the site to see the devastation, including a crater that was said to be about 1,000ft (300 metres) wide.

Jawid Saleem, a spokesman for the army in Nangarhar Province, told TOLO News that the bomb was dropped between two mountains where militants were hiding in caves and tunnels.

He also claimed there were no civilian casualties.

Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of Afghanistan, said the bomb was dropped by the US in coordination with the Afghan government.

(Image: REUTERS)

He said strike targeted an ISIS base which was also used as a training camp and ammunition dump.

He wrote on Twitter: "Many families had long been been displaced from the area due to ISIS brutality. Gov't also took great care to avoid civilian harm.

"Joint nature of the operation shows our common resolve to eliminate ISIS and terror safe havens from our country."

ISIS, also known as Daesh, has established a small stronghold in eastern Afghanistan and launched deadly attacks on the capital Kabul.

(Image: REUTERS)

On Thursday night US President Donald Trump hailed the blitz as a success.

He told reporters at the White House: "If you look at what's happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what's happened over the last eight years, you'll see that there's a tremendous difference."

But the bombing has been condemned by some current and former Afghan officials, including former president Hamid Karzai.

He said: "I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear bomb, on Afghanistan by US military.

(Image: Rex Features)

"This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons.

"It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the USA."

Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was among those who condemned the US.

He wrote on Twitter: "Strongly condemn the US dropping a massive conventional bomb on Afghanistan that has vaporised everything within a mile radius."

The Taliban, who were overthrown by the US and its allies after the post-September 11 invasion, condemned the bombing as a “war crime”.

In a statement the Taliban said the military action was “brutal” and “inhuman”, and another act of “barbarism” by US forces.

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The bombing occurred on the eve of the Taliban’s spring offensive.