US hits back at ISIS-K for Kabul blast with airstrike

The United States military struck back at the Islamic State on Saturday Aug 28th by bombing an IS member in Afghanistan after the attack at Kabul airport. Reportedly the drone strikes by the US military targeted a 'planner' of the IS outfit.

The ISIS-K planner was suspected of being involved in plotting future attacks, but had no direct link to Thursday’s (26th Aug) Kabul airport blast.

A statement by Central Command spokesperson Captain Bill Urban said,

“US 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.”

The airstrikes come in the wake of US president Joe Biden warning the Islamic State attackers of retaliation for the Kabul airport attack. Biden had stated,

“To those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes America harm know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

August 31 is the deadline set by both the U.S. and the Taliban for America's pullout from the war-torn Afghanistan. The US has said that it will stick to the deadline to complete the mission.

American forces working under heightened security and threats of another attack pressed ahead with the evacuation from Kabul's airport after a suicide bombing at Kabul airport on

Aug 26th that killed hundreds of Afghans and 13 US service members.

So far, the US has evacuated approximately 109,200 people from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul since August 14.