World
Another terrorist attack on Kabul airport is 'highly likely', warns Biden
Washington: United States (US) President Joe Biden has warned saying commanders have told him that another terror attack is “highly likely” this weekend after Thursday's bombings at Kabul airport.
With just two days left for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US military has sounded a 'specific, credible threat' at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as the evacuation continues.
Following the threat, the state department has urged all US citizens to leave the area near the airport.
As per details, a suicide bombing near the airport on Thursday resulted in some 170 deaths.
However, a local branch of the Islamic State group - Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K) - claimed the attack.
In retaliation, the US carried out a drone strike on eastern Afghanistan late on Friday, saying it had killed two "high-profile" IS-K members.
The two are described as a planner and a facilitator. It is unclear whether they were directly involved in planning the Kabul airport attack.
"This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay," said Biden in a statement released on Saturday.
Condemning the air strike, Taliban said the Americans should have consulted them first.
However, US troops have begun their withdrawal from the airport - their numbers are now down to 4,000, from a peak of 5,800 in the past week.
In total, over 110,000 people - both Afghans and foreign nationals - have been evacuated from Afghanistan’s capital city since the airlift began two weeks ago.