Biden warns another terror attack highly likely at Kabul airport in 24-36 hours

Washington: United States president Joe Biden on Saturday (local time) warned that a new terror attack was likely at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan in less than two days, as he put the timeframe for the predicted attack to "the next 24 to 36 hours". The statement from Biden comes in the wake of a drone strike that the US conducted in the war-torn country earlier in the day, claiming to take out a 'planner' of the Islamic State in Khorasan (ISIS-K) terror group in retaliation of the suicide bombing attack at the Hamid Karzai International Airport days ago which killed at least 169 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members.

The US embassy in Kabul also issued a new warning on Sunday about a "specific, credible threat" near the Kabul airport and asked Americans to "immediately" leave areas outside the airport gates.

"Due to a specific, credible threat, all US citizens in the vicinity of Kabul airport (HKIA), including the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior, and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport should leave the airport area immediately," the embassy said in its security alert.

Biden, issuing a press statement at the White House late on Saturday, said: "The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours."

Notably, multiple ISIS-K gunmen and a suicide bomber had laid deadly havoc on the Kabul airport earlier this week on Thursday. Among the fallen US service members were 10 members of the Marine Corps, many of who were barely in their 20s. On Saturday, less than 48 hours after the attack, the United States hit back at the Islamic State, which had claimed responsibility for the airport bombing. In a retaliatory airstrike, the drone strikes by the US military targeted a 'planner' of the IS outfit who, according to Pentagon's initial reports, was killed in the Nangahar province of Afghanistan without effecting any civilian casualties in the process.'

Joe Biden, the president of the United States, said that he had met with his national security team in Washington and commanders in the field on Saturday and discussed the airstrike that the US forces conducted on Friday night (local time) against the terrorist group ISIS-K in Afghanistan. "I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have," Biden's statement read.

Biden further warned that this was hardly the last strike that the United States was planning against the terror outfit and said that the retaliation will continue. "This strike is not the last," he said. "We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay. Whenever anyone seeks to harm the United States or attack our troops, we will respond. That will never be in doubt."