American forces launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday targeting a terrorist during a vehicle who was getting to attack the airport, US officials said, because the US nears the top of its military presence within the city.
The strike is that the second administered by US forces in Afghanistan since a militant Islamic State (IS) group terrorist struck the airport on Thursday, killing 13 US troops and many Afghan civilians trying to escape the country.
There were few initial details about the incident, also as a rocket that struck a neighbourhood just northwest of the airport, killing a toddler . The Taliban initially described the 2 strikes as separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce and witnesses heard just one large blast on Sunday within the Afghan capital.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden said things on the bottom remained extremely dangerous, which his military chiefs had told him another militant attack was highly likely within subsequent 24-36 hours.
US officials had said they were particularly concerned about the local affiliate of IS attacking the airport as American troops depart, especially the threat from rockets and vehicle-borne explosives.
One US official said Sunday’s strike was administered by an unmanned aircraft piloted from outside Afghanistan, which secondary explosions following the strike showed the target had been carrying a “substantial amount of explosive material”.
Witnesses reported an explosion near the airport and tv footage showed black smoke rising into the sky.
Two witnesses said the blast seemed to are caused by a rocket that struck a house in a neighborhood to the northern side of the airport, but there was no immediate confirmation.
Following Thursday’s bombing , the US military launched a drone strike on Friday that it said targeted members of the group in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.
That strike killed two “high-profile” IS-Khorasan planners and facilitators and wounded another, the Pentagon said.
US military cargo planes continued their runs into the airport on Sunday, before a Tuesday deadline earlier set by President Joe Biden to withdraw all troops from America’s longest war.
