9/20/2021- 10:04 a.m.
The Islamic State group (IS) said the attacker who blew himself up at Kabul airport on 26 August had only recently walked free from an unidentified prison when the former Afghan government collapsed.
The devastating explosion in the middle of crowds trying to get into the airport killed as many as 170 people, including 13 US troops, reports the BBC.
On 15 August the Taliban reportedly let out thousands of inmates from Kabul’s Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the day they captured the city.
Media reports said IS and al-Qaeda members were among those freed. The Taliban also freed prisoners from jails in other cities.
Offering new information, IS said in an online newsletter that the bomber Abdul-Rahman al-Logari and “a number of his brothers [IS members]” walked out of prison “as the forces of the former government fled”.
It added that as soon as he was free, he “rushed to join his brothers [IS Khorasan province]” and enlisted in the group’s suicide bomber squad.
