The Taliban (pictured in March) have launched an operation to kill an Islamic State leader who helped organize the 2021 Olympics. attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, sources confirmed to ABC, CBS and Politico on Tuesday. 13 American soldiers were killed in the attack. File photo by Samiullah Popalo/EPA-EFE
April 25 (UPI) — The Taliban said Tuesday it had carried out an operation that killed an ISIS leader responsible for planning a pair of bombings. Afghanistan in 2021 among the dead were 13 US soldiers.
The White House is not expected to release the name of the individual, but has acknowledged the operation. CBS quoted senior administration sources as saying.
The so-called “mastermind” of the attacks, which has not been named, was killed in an operation that did not use American military assets, ABC reported, citing US officials.
Abbey Gate Attack 2021 occurred in August when US troops were in the final stages of withdrawal from Afghanistan. A pair of explosions near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 US service members and injured dozens more.
At least 95 Afghans were killed and more than 100 injured in two blasts, one at the airport’s Abbey Gate and another at a nearby hotel.
Before the attack, American, British and Australian officials warned their citizens to stay away from the airport due to “credible threats” of an imminent ISIS attack.
President Joe Biden later vowed to retaliate against the perpetrators.
The person killed was still involved in continuing efforts to promote terrorism, a senior US official told Politico.
ISIS-K stands for Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a self-proclaimed branch of the Islamic State. The separation is not linked to the Afghanistan-based Islamic State.
The Taliban did not directly notify US military sources of the death, but verified the operation through their own intelligence sources, officials said.
