High-ranking IS leader: Taliban allegedly kill masterminds of airport attack

Wednesday April 26, 2023

Senior IS leader Taliban allegedly kill masterminds behind airport attack

After the unexpected takeover by the Taliban in 2021, several countries are flying tens of thousands of people out of Kabul. Thousands crowd outside the airport gates as a suicide bomber detonates a bomb. 170 people die and 13 US soldiers lose their lives. Now the mastermind is said to have been killed.

The Taliban apparently killed the mastermind behind the attack on Kabul Airport in 2021, according to US sources. This is said to be the leader of a cell of the so-called Islamic State, reports the “New York Times”, citing US officials. “He was a senior Isis-K fighter who was directly involved in planning operations like Abbey Gate and is now in no position to plan or execute attacks,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.




The attack on August 26 killed 13 US soldiers and around 170 civilians. 150 people were injured. At the time, thousands were thronging outside the capital’s airport gates to leave Afghanistan in international military planes, just after the Taliban had retaken power. At the time, an offshoot of the IS terrorist militia claimed responsibility for the attack. The Afghan branch of the so-called Islamic State (IS) is known as the Islamic State of Khorasan or Isis-K, after a historical name for the region, and is considered an enemy of the Taliban.

Survivors informed

According to the report, the US government has begun informing the families of US victims of the Taliban’s actions. However, they held back with information and allegedly gave neither the name nor the circumstances of the action by the Taliban. This caused displeasure among the victims’ relatives.

The US authorities became aware of the Taliban’s strike earlier this month, the New York Times said. However, it is unclear whether the man was killed on purpose or died in one of the increasingly frequent skirmishes between the terrorist militia and the Taliban. The AP news agency reports on an operation in the south of the country. The Taliban were not aware of the identity of the dead man. His death was solely the responsibility of the Taliban, the US was not involved, the CBS broadcaster quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The Bundeswehr was involved in the evacuation with six A400M transport aircraft. From August 16 to 26, they reportedly took more than 5,300 people out of the country on 37 flights. A total of around 100,000 people were probably flown out – most of them from the USA. Immediately after the suicide attack, the Bundeswehr ended its mission in Afghanistan. All German soldiers deployed in the evacuation left the country unharmed.

Source: ntv.de
jwu/rts/dpa


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