TOLOnews footage from Assadkhail village in Achin district in Nangarhar province, where the U.S recently dropped the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), shows that the Mother of All Bombs had hit a number of hideouts and strongholds belonging to Daesh.
The footage also shows that the bodies of a number of Daesh fighters are still at the scene.
Meanwhile, residents in the area spoke out and said the threat posed by Daesh and the MOAB had both changed Assadkhail village into a place of horror for them.
This footage meanwhile shows that the bomb destroyed much of the immediate area and claimed the lives of at least 90 Daesh fighters.
According to officials, numerous tunnels in the mountains in Achin were destroyed by the bomb – inter-connected tunnels that were carved out over 30 years ago.
“They (Daesh fighters) were leading out all their areas including Dara-e-Mohmand,” said Mohammad Rustam, an officer from the army commando unit’s sixth battalion.
According to TOLOnews journalist Sharif Amiri, the ground zero target of the bomb had been one Daesh’s biggest training camps, which was even equipped with computers.
Meanwhile, Halima, a 10-year-old girl, who was kidnapped by Daesh fighters 12 days ago and escaped from one of their training centers in Achin on Tuesday, said the group wanted to use her in a suicide bombing mission.
She said she was also given medication that suppressed her appetite over the past 10 days.
“We were on our way to school. A while corolla vehicle came and asked us to get on and said they will take us to school. Then they tightened our mouth and pushed us in the car,” Halima said.
“They (Daesh fighters) had a kidnapping group and they brought women from Achin district to here (the tunnels) where they were trained by Daesh women (fighters) and then the (kidnapped) women were sent to Achin,” said Khalid Andarabi, commander of the ANA Commando’s 3th Battalion.
Achin is located along the Durand Line in a very mountainous area. After the bombing and the subsequent military operation in the area, Daesh fighters reportedly fled across the Durand Line.