US identifies suicide bomber behind Kabul airport attack that killed 13 American troops

The United States has identified the suicide bomber who killed 13 American troops outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul back in August. According to The New York Times, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist attack was carried out by Abdul Rahman Al-Logari - a one-time engineering student who was freed from a high-security prison by the Taliban. Four months after the attack that killed scores of people, US and foreign intelligence officials have pieced together Al-Logari’s profile and now they will use the information to focus on an IS cell that they believe was involved in the attack, including its leadership and foot soldiers. 

Abdul Rahman Al-Logari profile

As per the media outlet, Al-Logari was one of several thousand militants freed from at least two high-security prisons after the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15. The Taliban had emptied the facilities indiscriminately, releasing not only their own imprisoned members but also fighters from IS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the group’s branch in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s nemesis. It is to mention that Al-Logari was not unknown to the world as in 2017, the CIA tipped off the Indian intelligence agents that he was plotting a suicide bombing in New Delhi. 

The Indian authorities then foiled the attack and turned Al-Logari over to the CIA, which then sent him to Afghanistan to serve time at the Parwan prison at Bagram Air Base. The former engineering student remained in Afghanistan jail until he was freed amid the chaos after Kabul fell. Then, eleven days later, on August 26, the bomber, wearing a 25-pound explosive vest under his clothing, walked up to a group of American troops who were frisking those hoping to enter the Kabul airport. 

The US officials said that Al-Logari waited until he was about to be searched before detonating the bomb, which was large for a suicide vest, killing himself and nearly 200 others. According to the report, Al-Logari is the son of an Afghan merchant who frequently visited India and Pakistan for business. He moved to India in 2017 to study engineering at Manav Rachna University near New Delhi. 

He was recruited by ISIS-K and was later arrested in relation to the New Delhi plot. Al-Logari was handed over to the CIA by India’s foreign spy services, the Research and Analysis Wing, in September 2017. He had spent time in Afghanistan's both Pul-e-Charki and Parwan prisons. But it still remains unclear how he linked up with the ISIS-K attack cell in Kabul. 

(Image: Twitter/RepublicWorld)