US Retaliates for Kabul Airport Terror Attack... Targeted Strike on IS Additional Terror Plotters (Comprehensive)

Biden Receives Report on Potential Additional Terror Attacks

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 27th (local time), the United States conducted an airstrike against the Islamic State (IS) Afghanistan branch, 'IS Khorasan' (IS-K), in retaliation for the bomb attack at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Central Command announced that it carried out a counterterrorism operation targeting one IS-K planner in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, using a drone. Central Command spokesperson Navy Colonel Bill Urban stated, "The target was killed, and there are no reported civilian casualties."

The identity of the target has not been disclosed. It is still unknown whether this individual had a direct connection to the bomb attack at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport that occurred the previous day. An official told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that it was a "preemptive strike" and explained, "We received intelligence that the (killed individual) was planning another attack." He added, "We consider this person a terrorist involved in planning additional attacks in Kabul," but did not reveal the basis for this conclusion. According to this official, the U.S. had been monitoring the individual killed in this airstrike even before the Kabul airport bombing occurred.

The airstrike was carried out less than 48 hours after the Kabul airport bombing, which claimed the lives of over 170 people, including 13 U.S. military personnel. Immediately following the bombing, U.S. President Joe Biden identified IS-K as responsible and vowed, "We will track them down to the end and make them pay."

The airstrike is assessed to have been precisely executed to eliminate only the target. NBC News, citing multiple Department of Defense officials, reported that the IS-K member killed in the strike was in a vehicle with an accomplice at the time of the airstrike. According to the Department of Defense announcements and other sources, the accomplice also appears to have survived the strike. Defense officials stated that the airstrike employed the attack drone 'MQ-9 Reaper' along with weapons selected to minimize civilian casualties and ensure accuracy.

The weapon mentioned by officials is presumed to be the modified Hellfire missile 'AGM-114R9X,' nicknamed the 'Ninja missile.' Instead of an explosive warhead detonating, this missile operates by deploying six blades just before impact with the target, reducing collateral damage. WSJ reported that the airstrike was conducted after waiting for the IS-K member to move away from civilians.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul reportedly advised American citizens to immediately leave the vicinity of the Kabul airport entrance, according to foreign media. The U.S. government is concerned about additional terrorist attacks targeting Kabul Airport. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki stated that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by national security staff on the possibility of further attacks earlier that morning. On the same day, State Department spokesperson Ned Price explained that approximately 500 American citizens are currently receiving assistance from or communicating with the State Department for evacuation from Afghanistan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.