Airport attack mastermind killed by IEA forces: US

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Islamic Emirate security forces have killed the mastermind behind a suicide attack on the Kabul airport during the chaotic 2021evacuation.

After the fall of the previous government in August, 2021, a suicide bombing took place at the airport during the pullout of US and international troops.

According to reports, about 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US troops were killed and hundreds of others wounded in the deadly bombing.

“He was a key ISIS-K official directly involved in plotting operations like Abbey Gate, and now is no longer able to plot or conduct attacks,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said,

Reuters quoted Kirby as saying in a statement: “The Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K, after an old name of the region, is an enemy of the Taliban.”

Fighters loyal to Islamic State first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and later made inroads in other areas,the statement added.

The Biden administration held telephonic conversations with family members of the American soldiers killed in the airport attack and informed that the main suspect was killed in an Islamic Emirate operation, the New York Times reported.

It quoted US officials as saying that it was not clear whether the caretaker government forces specifically targeted the suspected mastermind or he was involved in a clash with the security forces.

Two months ago, during an operation in Mazar-i-Sharif, local officials reported that many key members of Daesh were killed.

sa/mud