April 25 (UPI) -- The Taliban said Tuesday it carried out an operation that killed an ISIS leader responsible for plotting a pair of explosions in Afghanistan in 2021 that left 13 U.S. service members among the dead.
The White House is not expected to release the person's name but did acknowledge the operation, CBS reported citing senior administration sources.
The unnamed, so-called "mastermind" of the attacks was killed in an operation that did not involve American military assets, ABC reported, citing U.S. officials.
The Abbey Gate attack in August 2021 came as U.S. troops were in their final withdrawal from Afghanistan. A pair of explosions near Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport killed 13 U.S. military members and left dozens more injured.
At least 95 Afghans were killed and more than 100 wounded as a result of the two explosions, one at the airport's Abbey Gate and another at a nearby hotel.
Ahead of the attack, American, British and Australian officials warned their citizens to stay away from the airport because of "credible threats" of an impending ISIS attack.
President Joe Biden later pledged retaliation against the perpetrators.
The person killed still was involved in continuing efforts to promote terrorism, a senior U.S. official told Politico.
ISIS-K stands for Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a self-proclaimed offshoot of the Islamic State. The spin-off is not affiliated with the Islamic State based in Afghanistan.
U.S. military sources were not told directly by the Taliban about the death but verified the operation through its own intelligence sources, officials said.
