10 things you need to know today: August 28, 2021

U.S. military says retaliatory airstrike likely killed ISIS leader in Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida strengthening quickly en route to Louisiana, and more

Pentagon.
(Image credit: DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

1. U.S. military says retaliatory airstrike likely killed ISIS leader in Afghanistan

The United States military said Friday that it conducted an airstrike against the Islamic State in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province in retaliation for a suicide bomb attack outside the gates of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed nearly 200 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members on Thursday amid a chaotic evacuation process following the Taliban's takeover of the capital city. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said "initial indications" are that the strike killed an unnamed extremist leader whom the U.S. intelligence community believes was involved in the planning of the bombing, as well as potential future attacks. The U.S. has warned American citizens at certain airport gates to leave immediately as credible threats remain, though evacuation flights continued to leave Friday.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.