Pope angered at US’s ‘mother of all bombs’ name

Pope Francis has criticised the naming of the US military's largest non-nuclear explosive ever used in combat as "the mother of all bombs".

"I was ashamed when I heard the name," the pontiff told an audience of students at the Vatican on Saturday.

"A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is going on?"

The US last month dropped a bomb, which weighs 9,800kg, on Islamic State militants in the Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon said it was dropped from a US aircraft, targeting a tunnel complex used by IS.

The explosive is officially called the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), but is widely known as "the mother of all bombs".

It was first tested in 2003, but had not been deployed in combat before.

Pope Francis is set to meet US President Donald Trump on 24 May in a potentially awkward encounter given their opposing positions on immigration, refugees and climate change.