KABUL: A US drone strike hit a suicide bomber in a vehicle who was aiming to attack Kabul airport as US forces worked to complete a withdrawal that will end two decades of military involvement in Afghanistan, US officials said.
Initial reports of the incident also involved the mention of a rocket attack. Afghan police chief told media that a rocket hit a neighborhood northwest of the airport amid US evacuation and has killed a child.
According to reports a drone strike was carried out in the Khawja Bughra area, and killed seven — including four children, a husband and wife, and one other person. One person injured in the attack was rushed to a medical facility.
“A car parked inside a house in which children and adults were sitting was hit, resulting in the casualties,” area residents said.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid corroborated this, saying that a US airstrike “targeted a suicide bomber in a vehicle who wanted to strike Kabul airport”.
The Taliban had started their own investigations to determine whether it was really a suicide bomber driving a vehicle loaded with explosives.
The official said the drone strike “targeted a suspected [Daesh] car bomb that was targeting the airport”, adding that a secondary explosion indicates there was a substantial amount of explosive material.
The strike was the second by the US military since a Daesh suicide bomb just outside the airport on Thursday killed 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians.
The airport has been the scene of a massive airlift by US and allied forces evacuating their citizens and Afghans desperate to leave a country since the Taliban took control two weeks ago.
Officials said the strike targeted suspected militants from Daesh Khorasan, a local affiliate of Daesh that is an enemy of both the West and of the Taliban movement that took over the capital on August 15 after a lightning offensive.
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