US airstrike targets ISIS-K 'planner' in Afghanistan

A Taliban fighter stands guard at the site of the twin suicide bombs, which killed scores of people including 13 US troops, at Kabul airport. Photo/AFP

The US has conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State "planner" in Afghanistan, striking back at the terror outfit in less than 48 hours after a suicide bombing claimed by the group killed 169 Afghans and 13 American soldiers at the Kabul airport.

"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,' Capt Bill Urban, spokesperson of US Central Command, said on Friday. 'We know of no civilian casualties," he said. Earlier in the day, the White House said President Joe Biden does not want the terrorists, who planned the attack at the Kabul airport, to live any longer.

'I think he made it clear yesterday that he does not want them to live on the Earth anymore,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference. However, it wasn't immediately known if the ISIS-K planner was involved specifically in Thursday's Kabul airport attack, claimed by the Islamic State's Afghanistan affiliate -- Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K.

The US airstrike came a day after President Biden vowed to "hunt" down the terrorists and make them "pay" for the Kabul airport attack and ordered his commanders to develop plans to strike back at them. "To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm notice, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command," Biden had said in his remarks at the White House on Thursday.

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