US drone strike targets ISIS-K 'planner' in Afghanistan

In a retaliatory airstrike, the US struck back at the Islamic State as it bombed a member of the ISIS-K in eastern Afghanistan. The US Central Command said a drone strike was conducted in Nangahar, east of Kabul. The strike killed one individual, and there were no known civilian casualties, the Associated Press quoted spokesman Navy Capt. William Urban as saying. The strike, launched from outside of Afghanistan, came as the airlift of evacuees from Kabul airport continued under much-heightened security after Thursday's attack.

According to the Pentagon, the drone strikes by the US military targeted a 'planner' of the IS outfit. The airstrikes come in the wake of US president Joe Biden warning the Islamic State attackers of retaliation for the Kabul airport attack, saying the United States would neither forget nor forgive the act. Earlier in the day, the US embassy in Kabul issued a fresh advisory for Americans, asking them to avoid travelling to the Kabul airport because of security threats. Those at the Abbey, East, North, or the new ministry of interior gates should leave immediately, it said. Meanwhile, more than 100,000 people have already been evacuated through the Kabul airport but thousands of others are desperate to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. US officials said evacuees with proper credentials still were being allowed through the gates, while as many as 5,400 evacuees currently await flights at the airport.