Islamic State operative behind deadly Kabul Airport attack is dead

U.S. Marines are seen at Abbey Gate before a suicide bomber struck outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 26, 2021. [VOA]

The leader of the Islamic State terror group cell that carried out the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghan civilians is dead, slain during recent clashes with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.

U.S. officials, who initially confirmed the death to VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the intelligence, declined to name the cell leader or say when or where he was killed.