Washington: The United States launched a drone strike against an Islamic State attack plotter in eastern Afghanistan, the military said on Friday, a day after a suicide bombing at Kabul airport killed over 180, including 13 US troops.
President Joe Biden vowed on Thursday that the United States would hunt down those responsible for the attack, saying he had ordered the Pentagon to come up with plans to strike at the perpetrators.
US Central Command said the strike took place in Nangarhar province, east of Kabul and bordering Pakistan.
"Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties," a US military statement said.
It did not say whether the target was connected with the airport attack.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the strike was against an Islamic State militant planning future attacks.
A reaper drone, which took off from the Middle East, struck the militant while he was in a car with an Islamic State associate, the official said. Both are believed to have been killed, the official added.
Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), an affiliate of militants who previously battled US forces in Syria and Iraq, said it had carried out Thursday's attack, which killed dozens of people - including Afghans who were trying to leave the country.
In addition to the 13 US troops killed, 18 injured were flown to Germany.
There are roughly 5,000 US troops at Kabul's airport, helping to evacuate American citizens, at-risk Afghans and other nationalities before Biden's Tuesday deadline.
Thursday's attack marked the first US military casualties in Afghanistan since February 2020 and represented the deadliest incident for American troops there in a decade.
"We will not forgive, we will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said in remarks at the White House on Thursday. He appeared to be fighting back tears and his voice cracked with emotion as he talked about the American "heroes" who died.
He ordered flags at the White House and public buildings around the country to be lowered to half-staff.
Biden defended the handling of his most serious foreign policy crisis, saying ultimately it is his responsibility while assigning some blame to his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, for the 2020 agreement Trump negotiated with the Taliban.
US forces in Kabul have been anticipating another attack from Islamic State militants.
Late on Friday, the US Embassy warned that Americans should avoid travelling to the airport because of security threats, and those at the Abbey, East, North or Ministry of Interior gates should leave immediately.
US on alert for further Kabul attacks in race to complete evacuations
US forces helping evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule were on alert for more attacks on Friday after an Islamic State suicide bombing outside Kabul airport killed at least 92 people, including 13 US service members.
The White House said the next few days of an ongoing US evacuation operation that the Pentagon said has taken about 111,000 people out of Afghanistan in the past two weeks are likely to be the most dangerous.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States believes there are still "specific, credible" threats against the airport after the bombing at one of its gates.
"We certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts," Kirby told reporters in Washington. "We're monitoring these threats, very, very specifically, virtually in real time."
US and allied forces are racing to complete evacuations of their citizens and vulnerable Afghans and to withdraw from Afghanistan by an Aug. 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden after two decades of American military presence there.
About 4,200 people were evacuated from Kabul during a 12-hour period on Friday, the White House said. Earlier in the day, US officials said a total of approximately 5,100 Americans had been evacuated, with about 500 more waiting to leave.
While thousands have been evacuated, they are far outnumbered by those who could not get out.
