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Taliban kill mastermind of suicide bombing at Kabul airport

Published:Tuesday | April 25, 2023 | 7:18 PM
This image from a video released by the Department of Defense shows US Marines at Abbey Gate before a suicide bomber struck outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26, 2021, in Kabul Afghanistan. The Taliban have killed the senior Islamic State group leader behind the August 2021 bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 service members and about 170 Afghans. That is according to the father of a Marine killed in the attack who was briefed on April 25, 2023, by military officials. (Department of Defense via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ground assault by the Taliban killed the Islamic State militant who spearheaded the August 2021 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that left 13 US troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, US officials said Tuesday.

Initially, neither the US, nor apparently the Taliban, were aware that the mastermind was dead. He was killed during a series of battles early this month in southern Afghanistan between the Taliban and the Islamic State group's affiliate, according to several officials.

But in the past few days, US intelligence confirmed “with high confidence” that the Islamic State leader had been killed, a senior administration official said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Over the weekend, the US military began to inform the parents of the 11 Marines, the sailor and the soldier who were killed in the blast at Abbey Gate, and they shared the information in a private group messaging chat. The father of one of the Marines said the death of his son's killer brings little comfort.

“Whatever happens, it's not going to bring Taylor back and I understand that,” Darin Hoover, the father of Staff Sergeant Darin Taylor Hoover, said in a phone call with The Associated Press. “About the only thing his mom and I can do now is be an advocate for him. All we want is the truth. And we're not getting it. That's the frustrating part.”

Hoover said he and his son's mother, Kelly Henson, have spent the past year and a half grieving his death and praying for accountability from the Biden administration for the handling of the withdrawal.

He added that the Marines provided only limited information to him and did not identify the Islamic State leader or give the circumstances of his death. US officials declined to provide many details because of sensitivities in the intelligence gathering.

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