Tag Archives: ISISK

US

US carries out Kabul airstrike against ISIS-K suicide bomber that threatened airport, US official confirms

Leave a comment

The U.S. military conducted an airstrike against a vehicle carrying at least one suicide bomber who intended to target Kabul’s international airport Sunday, a U.S. official confirmed. 

The strike in a crowded neighborhood northwest of the airport set off “significant secondary explosions,” which indicated a “substantial amount of explosive material” inside the vehicle, Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement. While the target was initially described as a vehicle-born improvised explosive device (IED), an official clarified that the explosives may have been worn by one or more bombers inside, rather than planted on the vehicle itself.

The U.S. military acted to intervene and prevent another event like the one that occurred Thursday when a suicide bomb killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghan citizens. 

JAKE SULLIVAN: BIDEN ‘WILL STOP AT NOTHING’ TO GET JUSTICE FOR FALLEN SERVICE MEMBERS AFTER ISIS-K ATTACK

“U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International Airport,” Urban said. “We are confident we successfully hit the target.”

Urban added that the military is assessing the possibility of civilian casualties.

Smoke rises after an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 29, 2021. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

TALIBAN RULE WILL BE ‘A LONG SLOW DEATH’ FOR WOMEN, LARA LOGAN SAYS

The Associated Press reported that an Afghan police chief claimed the explosion killed at least one child. 

The official’s comments that the strike used “over-the-horizon” capabilities indicated that the military used an unmanned drone from a military base in the Gulf.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a message to journalists that the strike targeted the bomber as he drove a vehicle loaded with explosives. Mujahid offered few other details.

EXPERTS QUESTION DECISION NOT TO NAME ISIS TERRORISTS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN DRONE STRIKE

The attack comes as the United States winds down a historic airlift that saw tens of thousands evacuated from Kabul’s airport, the scene of much of the chaos that engulfed the Afghan capital since the Taliban took over two weeks ago.

U.S. military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport Sunday, ahead of a Tuesday deadline earlier set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all troops from America’s longest war. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The drone strike Sunday occurred as families were receiving their fallen sons and daughters at Dover Air Force Base. President Biden, Chairman of Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived at Dover to meet with the families ahead of the dignified transfer of the fallen. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Read original article here

US

ISIS-K operatives rode motorbike when killed in US drone attack

Leave a comment

The two ISIS-K operatives fatally blasted in a US drone attack in Afghanistan on Friday were riding on a motorbike at the time of the attack, a report said.

The terrorists, described by US officials as a “planner” and a “facilitator,” were on the back of a three-wheeler, known as a tuk-tuk, when they were targeted in the retaliatory strike, the Mail on Sunday reported, citing social media photographs.

US officials said the duo were members of ISIS-K, the local affiliate of the jihadist group that took credit for Thursday’s bloodshed at the Kabul airport.

At a Saturday Pentagon press briefing, officials refused to identify the individuals killed by name, or say if they played specific roles in the suicide bombing that killed 13 US service members and at least 169 Afghans.

“They were ISIS-K planners and facilitators, and that’s enough reason there alone,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

“The fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the earth, that’s a good thing.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby (right) says the individuals killed in the drone strike were “ISIS-K planners and facilitators.”
AP

Read original article here

US

U.S. launched drone strike against ISIS-K in Afghanistan, likely killing intended target

Leave a comment

The U.S. military announced Friday that it has conducted an unmanned airstrike against ISIS-K in Afghanistan, and said “initial indications” show it killed one of the group’s planners. The strike came one day after ISIS-K claimed responsibility for an attack at one of the airport’s gates that left at least 170 dead, including 13 U.S. service members.

“U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner,” Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, confirmed Friday night. “The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties.”

The statement did not identify the target of the attack, or what role a “planner” has in the group. It is unclear whether the planner was involved in Thursday’s attack, which also injured 18 U.S. service members and scores of Afghan citizens. 

An affiliate of ISIS, the group that spread into northern Iraq from Syria six years ago and once controlled territory roughly the size of Britain, ISIS-K first emerged in Pakistan around the same time, in 2015. Its members have come from other Pakistani militant groups, including disillusioned Taliban fighters. 

Earlier Friday evening, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul sent out an alert telling people to stay away from the Kabul airport due to “security threats,” adding that those at four of the airport’s gates should “leave immediately.” 

“Because of security threats at the Kabul airport, we continue to advise U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates,” the embassy wrote on its website. “U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the New Ministry of Interior gate now should leave immediately.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what intelligence prompted the advisory, but earlier Friday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby and Army Major General William Taylor, joint staff deputy director for regional operations, cautioned that the U.S. expects more attack attempts.

The U.S. is still working to evacuate the remaining Americans and Afghan allies in Afghanistan before Mr. Biden’s August 31 deadline to pull the remaining American forces from the country. Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 105,000 people, according to the White House.

David Martin contributed reporting. 

Read original article here