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American forces launched a military strike in Kabul on Sunday targeting a suspected suicide car bomber that was aiming to attack the airport, a US official said.
“US military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent IS-K threat” to Hamid Karzai International airport, said Bill Urban, a spokesman for the US Central Command.
“Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material,” he said, adding that there were “no indications at this time” of civilian casualties.
The Islamic State group-Khorasan (IS-K) is the enemy of both the West and the Taliban, and was responsible for a suicide bomb attack outside the airport gates on Thursday.
The attack by IS-K, a branch of the Islamic State (IS) group, killed at least 90 Afghans and 13 American troops as a huge evacuation operation was underway following the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul on August 15.
Reporting from Kabul, FRANCE 24’s Cyril Payen said the strike appeared to have occurred in area just north of the Kabul military airport.
“It was a very, very big blast,” he said, adding that the Taliban had also confirmed it was a US air strike. Although what exactly happened is not particularly clear.
“The suicide bomber was in a [bomb-laden] car, meaning the explosive charge would have been enormous,” Payen said.
Television footage showed black smoke rising into the sky, but there was no immediate word on any casualties.
The US strike took place while about 1,000 civilians waited at the airport to be flown out before the last troops leave, a Western security official told Reuters.
“We want to ensure that every foreign civilian and those who are at risk are evacuated today. Forces will start flying out once this process is over,” the official said.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)
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