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The United States carried out a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee entered its difficult final phase with new terror attack warnings and l encroachment of Taliban forces ready to take control of Kabul airport.
US troops overseeing the evacuation were forced to cooperate more closely on security matters with the Taliban to prevent a repeat of a suicide bombing that killed dozens of civilians massed around one of the main gateways to airport, as well as 13 American soldiers.
The attack was claimed by a regional branch of the Islamic State – known as the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) – and the Pentagon announced it had carried out a drone attack against a “planner” of the Islamic State. jihadist group in eastern Afghanistan.
“The first indications are that we have killed the target. We do not know of any civilian casualties, ”the US military said in a statement.
The US central command said the airstrike took place in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and on the border with Pakistan. He did not say whether the target was linked to the airport attack.
The White House has said the next few days will likely be the most dangerous as evacuations continue ahead of the looming US force withdrawal deadline.
Just before details of the airstrike targeting the Islamic State were made public, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a new warning regarding security threats at the airport and called on U.S. citizens to doors to “leave immediately”.
This follows Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, who said earlier that the United States believes there are still “specific and credible” threats against the airport.
“We are certainly prepared and look forward to future attempts,” Kirby told reporters in Washington. “We monitor these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time. “
U.S. and Allied forces are rushing to complete evacuations of their citizens and vulnerable Afghans and withdraw from the country before Tuesday’s deadline set by U.S. President Joe Biden after two decades of U.S. military presence there.
The Pentagon has said the United States has withdrawn approximately 111,000 people from Afghanistan in the past two weeks.
While some have been evacuated, many are still trying to get out. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on August 15, crowds of people have gathered outside the airport to try to take part in the evacuation flights.
The Islamic State affiliate who claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and then made inroads into other areas, particularly the north.
The group is an enemy of the Islamist Taliban as well as of the West. The Pentagon said Thursday’s attack was carried out by a suicide bomber at an airport gate, not two as it had said earlier.
Biden said earlier that he ordered the Pentagon to plan how to strike the ISKP. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone strike was against an Islamic State activist who was planning attacks.
A mower drone, which took off from the Middle East, struck the activist while in a car with an Islamic State associate, the official said. Both were reportedly killed, the official added.
A senior Taliban commander said some ISKP members were arrested in connection with the attack on Kabul. “They are being questioned by our intelligence team,” said the commander.
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