United States Central Command (Centcom) announced late Friday eastern time that U.S. military forces had conducted an “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism operation against an Islamic State – Khorasan (ISIS-K) planner after the group took credit for a fatal bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 American service members.
“U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangahar Province of Afghanistan. Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” Centcom spokesman Navy Capt. Bill Urban said in a statement.
Centcom did not announce the identity of the “planner” or confirm if the planner was indeed killed.
The strike came as the identities of American service members — 11 Marines, one soldier, and one sailor — were announced, and as more than 30 Republican lawmakers called for President Joe Biden’s resignation.
The ISIS bomber got through to the airport, despite checkpoints set up by the Taliban to screen access to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, and detonated his suicide vest at a gate manned by U.S. service members.
A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site of the August 26 twin suicide bombs, which killed scores of people including 13 US troops, at Kabul airport on August 27, 2021. (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden ordered 6,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan and the region to conduct the evacuation, just days before the Taliban took over the country. The Taliban’s takeover took the Biden administration by surprise, with thousands of Americans still in the country.
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