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Taliban say two ISIS bombing suspects captured

The Taliban said they captured two members of the Islamic State affiliate responsible for the suicide bombing outside the airport of Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 13 U.S. service members Thursday.

“They are under investigation,” Qari Muhammad Yousaf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, told the Washington Post. Neither the identities of the people nor other details about their arrest were made available.

The alleged capture is the latest retaliation against ISIS-K, which claimed responsibility for Thursday’s explosion in Kabul. Late Friday, the Pentagon announced that the U.S. military carried out a strike against a “planner” of the ISIS-K terrorist group in Nangahar Province, Afghanistan. Major Gen. Hank Taylor, who is the deputy director of the Joint Staff For Regional Operations, confirmed Saturday that two “high-profile ISIS targets were killed and one was wounded” in the airstrike.

TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN KABUL TERROR ATTACK

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby added that it was “a good thing for the people of Afghanistan and it’s a good thing for our troops” that the ISIS members were killed. Officials would not name the terrorists who were killed in the strike, Kirby said, and the Pentagon declined to say whether they were directly involved in the suicide attack.

Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in the suicide bombing, while another 18 were injured. An estimated total of 170 people died in the blast.

American officials vowed to retaliate in the explosion’s immediate aftermath, with Central Command Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie saying Thursday afternoon that the United States “will go after” the perpetrators.

President Joe Biden separately promised to hunt them down in a speech Thursday evening.

“We’re outraged, as well as heartbroken,” Biden said. “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay.”

Taliban officials also condemned the attack, saying the group was opening an investigation “to know the nature of the blasts and why it happened.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

U.S. forces are continuing to evacuate American citizens and others ahead of the Biden administration’s Tuesday withdrawal deadline. Approximately 6,800 people were evacuated from Kabul between 3 a.m. EDT on Friday and the same time the next day, according to the Pentagon.

According to a State Department spokesperson, at least 5,400 U.S. citizens have been evacuated from Afghanistan since Aug. 14 as of Saturday, while some 350 are seeking to leave the country.

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Taliban say two ISIS bombing suspects captured

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