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Concerns about security around Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport have increased on the basis of a “very specific threat flow” from ISIS-K regarding planned attacks on crowds outside the airport, a US defense official told CNN.
The United States believes ISIS-K, which is a nemesis of the Taliban, wants to wreak havoc at the airport and has intelligence streams suggesting it is capable and planning to carry out multiple attacks, according to the official.
Tuesday, since he confirmed his decision not to extend With the evacuation deadline beyond August 31, President Biden acknowledged the growing threat the group poses to the airport.
“Every day that we’re on the ground is another day that we know ISIS-K is looking to target the airport and attack both US and Allied forces as well as innocent civilians,” Biden said.
In addition, concerns grew after more than 100 detainees loyal to ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan escaped from two prisons near Kabul as the Taliban advanced on the Afghan capital, CNN has learned.
A regional counterterrorism source told CNN that several hundred ISIS-K operatives may have escaped from Bagram and Pul-e-Charkhi prisons, both east of Kabul. Both prisons fell to the Taliban shortly before entering Kabul.
A Taliban spokesperson did not respond to reports of the breakouts at CNN’s request on Wednesday, saying only that they had not been confirmed.
Regarding the risk of terrorist attacks at and around the airport, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday: “There have been reports that some bad guys want to disrupt the security situation there by attacking and by hurting people and the media. So don’t close at the airport to avoid getting injured.
According to previous government officials, there were around 5,000 inmates at the Bagram facility when the United States left it in July. They included members of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS as well as ordinary criminals.
Who is ISIS-K? ISIS-Khorasan is a branch of the terrorist group that first emerged in Syria and Iraq. While affiliates share an ideology and tactics, the depth of their relationship when it comes to organization and command and control has never been fully established.
U.S. intelligence officials previously told CNN that ISIS-K members include “a small number of veteran Syrian jihadists and other foreign terrorist fighters,” saying the United States has identified 10 to 15 of its main agents in Afghanistan. The group’s name comes from its terminology for the area which includes Afghanistan and Pakistan: “Khorasan”.
The US Department of Defense Inspector General for Afghanistan (SIGAR) said in a report covering the months of April to June this year that “ISIS-Khorasan has exploited political instability and escalating violence. during the quarter by attacking minority sectarian targets and infrastructure to spread fear and underscore the inability of the Afghan government to provide adequate security. “
ISIS-K has formed cells in Kabul that have carried out a number of devastating suicide bombings in and beyond the Afghan capital since 2016.
The group has established itself in recent years in eastern Afghanistan, particularly in the provinces of Nangahar and Kunar. Last August, the group attacked the main prison in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangahar, in an attempt to free dozens of their supporters who had been captured by the Afghan army and police.
Learn more about the group here.
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