US drone strike eliminates threat to Kabul airport, but claims Afghan civilian lives as well

The United States claimed to have disrupted an imminent ISIS-K threat to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport after it carried out an airstrike about three kilometres from the intended target.

However, even though an imminent threat was neutralised, there was collateral damage as well with reports suggesting that at least nine Afghan civilians were killed in the strike.

Six children are among those killed in the US drone strike in Kabul.

The US Central Command said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties.

In a statement, the US Central Command said that it was still assessing the results of the airstrike. 

We know that there were powerful and substantial subsequent explosions resulting from the vehicle's destruction, the statement said, adding that the explosions indicated a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties. 

US Central Command Spokesman Captain Bill Urban said, "It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further. We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life."

According to reports, there were two suicide bombers inside the explosive-laden vehicle taken out by the US strike. The US drone believed to have taken off from the United Arab Emirates, hit the vehicle.

The airstrike came hours after US President Joe Biden announced that another terrorist attack on Kabul was 'highly likely' within 36 hours and that the American retaliation for last week's bombing which claimed the lives of 13 US Marines, would continue.