Pentagon officials said the US military is looking for those responsible for bombings at Kabul airport that killed at least a dozen 12 American service members. The US retains the right to strike back at the terrorist group Isis-K, authorities said.
‘We are working very hard right now to determine attribution, who is responsible for this cowardly act,’ Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said during a Pentagon press conference on Thursday afternoon.
’24/7, we are looking for them.’
McKenzie confirmed that the blasts outside the airport on Thursday killed 12 US service members and injured 15 others.
‘Their loss weighs heavily on us all,’ McKenzie said.
In addition, ‘a number’ of Afghan civilians were killed, he said.
McKenzie said that threats to US forces from Isis-K, a splinter group of Isis, are ‘very real’ and that the airfield had an ‘extremely active’ threat stream.
‘The pattern is multiple attacks and we want to be prepared and be ready to defend against that,’ he said.
McKenzie said the bombing will not deter the US’s mission to evacuate Americans and allies from Afghanistan.
‘Despite this attack, we are continuing the mission,’ McKenzie said, referring to the evacuation effort.
McKenzie added that the US is using the ‘Taliban as a tool to protect us as much as possible’.
The Taliban, which has been fighting Isis-K, said it ‘strongly condemned’ the bombing.
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