A single Islamic State militant was responsible for detonating the bomb outside the Kabul airport that killed or wounded 58 U.S. service members, a number that is higher than previous reporting, the Pentagon said.
Both facts — that the bomber worked alone and the number of troops who were hurt in the blast — were not previously known until the Pentagon unveiled the conclusions to a monthslong investigation on Friday.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, and a handful of other military investigators spoke to the results of the conclusion in a briefing to reporters. The investigation included dozens of interviews with service members who witnessed the explosion, though they did not speak with any Afghan civilians.
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The United States was conducting a noncombatant evacuation operation in Afghanistan out of Hamid Karzai International Airport because the Taliban overthrew the government, leaving foreign nationals and Western-aligned Afghans at risk. The airport had “at least four imminent threat streams” on the day before and day of the attack, Aug. 26, according to Brig. Gen. Lance Curtis, the lead investigator.
The military investigators described “a single individual dressed in all black” who “steps forward from the crowd” outside of Abbey Gate, and they believe this was the bomber. He detonated the device, which contained ball bearings to maximize harm.
“The investigation found that a single explosive device killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. service members by explosively directing ball bearings through a packed crowd and into our men and women at Abbey Gate,” McKenzie explained. “The disturbing lethality of this device was confirmed by the 58 U.S. service members who were killed and wounded despite the universal wear of body armor and helmets that did stop ball bearings that impacted them but could not prevent catastrophic injuries to areas not covered.”
Some U.S. troops fired a number of warning shots after the blast. That, combined with the injuries caused by the ball bearings, led officials to think that other ISIS fighters were firing on the troops and civilians in a secondary attack, but the investigators said they no longer believe that to be true.
“It was a single blast, and it did not have a follow attack,” Curtis told reporters. “There were a series of crossing fires to the front of the service members on the ground that created the illusion that there was a complex attack, but there absolutely was not. There were no gunshot wounds. We have universal agreement between the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office and also the medical providers on the ground.”
The military investigators played a video of the detonation, which showed service members they said were 48 meters from the bomber reacting to the bomb.
Approximately a half an hour before the bomber detonated the device, Brig. Gen. Farrell Sullivan, the Joint Task Force Crisis Response commander, was at Abbey Gate for a meeting with British and Taliban officials. The latter group and the U.S. agreed to work together, and the new Afghan regime provided the outer layer of security at the airport.
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Various gates around the airport had been opened and closed to accommodate the flow of the thousands of people seeking a way out of Afghanistan. The topic of whether to close Abbey Gate came up in the meeting, Curtis said, though he wouldn’t provide any other details.
Roughly three minutes after the bomb exploded, a drone pilot began capturing footage of the scene at Abbey Gate. The grainy footage shows scores of people running away while service members appear to help wounded individuals.
