US carries out drone strike in Kabul neighbourhood against ISIS-K target
US drone strike in Kabul allegedly kills nine members of single family, including 6 children
Kabul, Aug 29 (UNI) The US military on Sunday conducted an airstrike in a crowded Kabul neighbourhood, northwest of the airport, against a vehicle carrying at least one suicide bomber who intended to target Kabul’s international airport Sunday, reports said.
The strike set off “significant secondary explosions”, which indicated a “substantial amount of explosive material” inside the vehicle, Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement.
While the target was initially described as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED), an official clarified that the explosives may have been worn by one or more bombers inside, rather than planted on the vehicle itself.
The US military said it acted to intervene and prevent another event like the suicide bombing on Thursday that killed nearly 200 people, including 13 US service members.
It was not clear if the air strike and a rocket strike that hit a house in the Khawja Bughra area in Kabul’s 11th security district, killing two people, were different or related.
“U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport,” Urban said. “We are confident we successfully hit the target.”
Urban added that the military is assessing the possibility of civilian casualties.
The “over-the-horizon” airstrike indicates that the US military used an unmanned drone from a military base in the Gulf.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a message to journalists that the strike targeted the bomber as he drove a vehicle loaded with explosives. Mujahid offered few other details.
The attack comes as the United States winds down the evacuation of thousands of its citizens and others from Kabul’s airport.
The air strike came a day after a similar drone strike in Nangarhar province killed two ISIS-K operatives believed to be involved in planning attacks against the US in Kabul.
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