US says drone kills IS bombers targeting Kabul airport

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said.  An Afghan official said three children were killed in the strike.

The strike came just two days before the U.S. is set to conclude a massive two-week-long airlift of more than 114,000 Afghans and foreigners and withdraw the last of its troops, ending America’s longest war with the Taliban back in power.

The U.S. State Department released a statement signed by around 100 countries, as well as NATO and the European Union, saying they had received “assurances” from the Taliban that people with travel documents would still be able to leave the country. The Taliban have said they will allow normal travel after the U.S. withdrawal is completed on Tuesday and they assume control of the airport.

Witnesses to the drone strike said it targeted two cars parked in a residential building near the airport, killing and wounding several civilians. Officials had initially reported a separate rocket attack on a building near the airport, but it turned out to be the same event.

The U.S. also carried out a drone strike elsewhere in the country on Saturday that it said killed two IS members.

The strikes came two days after an Islamic State suicide attack outside the airport killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.

President Biden on Saturday warned that another attack at the airport was “highly likely,” with the State Department following up that the threat was “specific” and considered “credible.”

Biden on Sunday stood witness with grieving families under a gray sky at Dover Air Force Base as, one by one, the remains of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the Kabul suicide bombing were removed with solemnity from a military aircraft that brought them home.

The only sounds that could be heard during the mournful ritual of the “dignified transfer” were the quiet commands of the honor guards in battle dress who carried the flag-draped cases, the hum of the C-17 aircraft that had transported the fallen and the periodic sob of the sorrowful.

Among the fallen was Lawrence resident Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo.

Pichardo was remembered by Cardinal Sean O’Malley who said in a tweet Sunday, “God blessed us with the life of Marine Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo. She dedicated her life to the greater good including serving the people of Lawrence through our Cor Unum meal center.”

“She proudly served our country paying the ultimate sacrifice. We mourn her death and the deaths of her fellow service members killed in Afghanistan.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2UW4Sg3