The US military announced on Friday that it had carried out a drone attack against a “planner” of the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the group that has claimed responsibility for the deadly blasts in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.
More than 100 people were killed in the explosions that shook Afghanistan on Thursday, including at least 13 US service members.
“The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target, ” According to the news agency AFP, Captain Bill Urban of the Central Command stated.
“We know of no civilian casualties,” he added in a Friday statement. According to the same source, the strike was launched from outside of Afghanistan.
How was the attack carried out?
A Reaper drone took out from an unknown Middle Eastern base and hit the target while he was in a car with another acquaintance. According to an official report by the Reuters news agency, both are believed to have been killed
170 people were killed in an incident near Kabul International Airport
On Thursday, at least 170 people were killed in explosions near Kabul’s airport, including US soldiers and international nationals.
Notably, since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan earlier this month, a large exodus of Afghans and foreigners has been happening that Notably, since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan earlier this month, a large exodus of Afghans and foreigners has been happening at that airport.
The incident was claimed by ISIS-K, an offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS or ISIL).
Soon after the incident on Thursday, US President Joe Biden pledged retaliation. “To those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay, ” he had stated. US sources have warned of more ISIS-K strikes in the coming days.
According to US Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby, the US believes there are still “specific, credible” threats against the Kabul airport. Meanwhile, reports indicate that evacuations at the airport have resumed.
Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban earlier this month
The Taliban, who brutally ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s, reclaimed control of the country earlier this month, bringing the 20-year-long conflict to an end.
Countries began evacuating their troops and citizens after the takeover, even as thousands of Afghans swarmed the Kabul airport in desperate attempts to flee Taliban rule.
The insurgents, however, have yet to form a government.