Single bomber carried out Kabul airport attack, U.S. military says

FILE PHOTO: U.S. service members act as pallbearers for the service members killed in action during operations at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 27, 2021. U.S. Marine Corps/1stLt. Mark Andries/Handout via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday that a single Islamic State bomber killed 13 U.S. troops and at least 170 Afghans at Kabul airport last August, not the complex attack originally suspected, and that it could not have been prevented with the resources on hand.

Briefing reporters on the results of a military inquiry, Marine General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the bomb sent 5mm ball bearings ripping through a packed crowd at the airport's Abbey Gate. The investigation found no definitive proof of any gunfire.