ISIS-K operative brought from Pakistan confesses to attacks in Kabul, Russia: US officials

New York, March 6: The ISIS-K terror operative behind the suicide attack on US military personnel in Kabul has been involved in web of terrorist attacks in Russia and elsewhere in Afghanistan, according to the US. US President Donald Trump's Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a White House briefing on Wednesday that Mohammad Sharifullah was brought to the US in the morning. Pakistan trying to develop relations with Trump after having been cold-shouldered by his predecessor Joe Biden, captured Sharifullah and handed him over to the US.

Islamabad is also battling ISIS-K, which it has blamed for several attacks against it. In his address to Congress on Tuesday night, Trump thanked Pakistan for capturing him and said the terrorist would "face the swift sword of American justice". The suicide bombing at the Abbery Gate at the Kabul airport during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 killed 13 US military personnel and about 170 Afghans. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said, "Thanks to the assistance of the FBI, Department of Justice, and the CIA, we have secured Sharifullah's apprehension and transport to the US to face American justice."

The Justice Department identified Sharifullah as a member of the terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan Province, which is known as ISIS-K. It said that he had been charged in the East Virginia federal court with providing and conspiring to give assistance to a terrorist organisation and faces a maximum of life sentence if he is convicted. He has confessed to involvement in the bombing outside the Canadian embassy in Kabul which killed 10 guards in 2016, and the attack at Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which killed about 130 people, the Justice Department said.

ISIS-K operates in South and Central Asia and has claimed involvement in terrorist attacks in Mangalore and Coimbatore in 2022. In court documents, federal prosecutors said that Sharifullah confessed to checking the route the suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari took to the Kabul airport and telling other ISIS-K operatives that the way was clear. He also admitted to training two of the gunmen who carried out the attack in Russia and conveying instructions.

Leavitt said on Trump's first day in office, federal intelligence agencies prioritised "intelligence gathering to locate this evil individual" and shared the information with regional partners like Pakistan. They "helped identify this monster in the borderland area" of Pakistan and Afghanistan, she said. Taking a dig at Biden, she asserted "he had three years to find this evil terrorist, and he didn't even try to get the job done". Before he announced the capture in his speech, Trump called the families of the military members killed in the attack "to share this incredible news", she said.