US strikes Islamic State in Afghanistan in retaliation to Kabul bombing: All you need to know

NEW DELHI: The United States launched a drone strike against an Islamic State attack "planner" in eastern Afghanistan, the military said on Saturday.

This came as a retaliation to a suicide bombing at Kabul airport by the terror group, in which 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians were killed.

The blast claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group targeted US forces, but hit hardest the mass of people who had converged on the airport in a desperate bid to escape the Taliban's feared hardline rule.

President Joe Biden vowed on Thursday that the United States would hunt down those responsible for the attack, saying he had ordered the

Pentagon

to come up with plans to strike at the perpetrators.

Here are some key developments-

Biden authorised the drone attack
US President Joe Biden authorised the drone strike and it was ordered by

Defense

Secretary Lloyd Austin, a defense official said as quoted by AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet publicly announced.

US airstrike targets Islamic State member in Afghanistan
Acting swiftly on President Joe Biden's promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the US military said it used a drone strike to kill a member of the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate Saturday.

Central Command said the drone strike was conducted in Nangahar province against an IS member believed to be involved in planning attacks against the United States in Kabul. The strike killed one individual, spokesman

Navy Capt

. William Urban said.

US Central Command

provided few details; it said it believed its strike killed no civilians.

US tells citizens to leave Kabul airport gates 'immediately'
The United States urged its citizens Friday to "immediately" leave the gates around Kabul's airport, where a suicide bomber this week targeted crowds trying to flee Taliban rule.

Earlier Friday, the Pentagon said that the high-risk Kabul airlift operation to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies still faced "specific, credible threats".

"US citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the

New Ministry of Interior

gate now should leave immediately," the

US Embassy

in Kabul said in a security alert.

American forces keep up airlift under high threat warnings
American forces working under heightened security and threats of another attack pressed ahead in the closing days of the US-led evacuation from Afghanistan after a devastating suicide bombing, and US officials said they had killed a member of the extremist group that the United States believes is responsible for it.

US forces overseeing the evacuation have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of a suicide bombing that killed scores of civilians crowded around one of the airport's main access gates and 13 American troops.

(With inputs from agencies)