According to American authorities, a drone strike by the United States on Sunday blew up a truck carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State branch before they could assault a military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport. Three children were killed in the hit, according to an Afghan official.

The hit was the second launched by US forces in Afghanistan after an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked the airport on Thursday, killing 13 US servicemen and dozens of Afghan civilians attempting to leave the country.

President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet with relatives of US military men killed in the attack at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday.

The air strike occurred as the US prepares to finish a historic airlift that saw tens of thousands of people evacuated from Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), the epicenter of most of the mayhem that has enveloped the Afghan capital since the Taliban took control two weeks ago.

A huge bomb shook a suburb north of Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to witnesses, and television images showed black smoke billowing into the sky.

The US Embassy in Kabul had issued a warning about a “specific credible threat” and advised anybody planning to evacuate to leave the airport immediately. President Joe Biden warned on Saturday that another attack on the Kabul airport was “highly likely” before the August 31 departure date.

Military cargo aircraft from the United States continued to fly into the airport on Sunday, ahead of President Joe Biden’s earlier deadline of Tuesday to remove all soldiers from America’s longest conflict. However, Afghans who remain in the nation are concerned that the Taliban may revert to its previous repressive rule, which has been exacerbated by the militants’ recent shooting murder of a folk singer in the country.

The US State Department issued a statement signed by more than a hundred nations, as well as NATO and the European Union, claiming the Taliban had given them “assurances” that anyone having travel papers would be permitted to leave the country. The Taliban have stated that once the US pullout is finished on Tuesday and they take control of the airport, they would allow regular travel.

The hit was verified by US Central Command, which said it was looking into claims of civilian deaths.

“We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties,” it added.

“It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further,” Central Command added.

The latest drone assault, according to US Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesperson for the US military’s Central Command, was carried out in “self-defence.” Authorities are still “assessing the possibility of civilian casualties,” he added, “though we have no indications at this time.”

“We are confident we successfully hit the target,” Urban said. “Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”

Because of security concerns, the Afghan official spoke on the condition of anonymity. The drone strike, according to witnesses, hit two cars parked in a residential structure near the airport, killing and injuring numerous civilians.

Officials from the United States have expressed worry that the local branch of Islamic State (ISIS-K) might attack the airport as American forces leave, citing the possibility of rockets and vehicle-borne explosives.

The Taliban also claimed that a US missile assault targeted suicide bombers.

“The vehicle and those inside it were killed in the drone strike,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

IS’s Sunni extremists, who have ties to the group’s more well-known offshoot in Syria and Iraq, have carried out a series of violent assaults, primarily against Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority, including a 2020 attack on a maternity facility in Kabul, in which mothers and newborns were slaughtered.