ISIS-K operative sentenced to 20 years for role in Kabul airport attack
An ISIS-K operative who helped prepare the Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and approximately 160 civilians has been sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. prison, according to the Justice Department. He also helped the gunmen who attacked a concert hall near Moscow in 2024.
Mohammad Sharifullah, an Afghan national, was sentenced on Wednesday for participating in a nearly decade-long conspiracy to provide material support and resources to ISIS-K, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
During the August 26, 2021, evacuation from Afghanistan, the group’s leaders assigned him to check a road leading to Hamid Karzai International Airport for Taliban checkpoints, according to court records and evidence presented at trial.
At about 2 p.m., he traveled the route and reported to ISIS-K leadership that it was clear. Thousands of civilians were gathered at the airport’s Abbey Gate, where U.S. and other coalition forces were conducting evacuations.
At approximately 5:36 p.m., ISIS-K suicide bomber Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated an explosive strapped to his body at the gate, killing the 13 service members and approximately 160 civilians. Sharifullah knew the bomber from their time together in an Afghan prison.
“Over the years, he was a critical link in ISIS-K operations, relaying communications, conducting surveillance, and transporting suicide bombers,” said Darren Cox, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
The operative participated in more than a dozen ISIS-K attacks from 2016 until his capture in 2025, according to the Justice Department. His work included moving and cleaning weapons, passing messages between members and recording explosions for propaganda.
Before a June 20, 2016, suicide bombing targeting Nepali security guards who protected the Canadian embassy in Kabul, he conducted surveillance and later transported the bomber to the attack site.
He also provided weapons instructions to ISIS-K gunmen who attacked Crocus City Hall near Moscow on March 22, 2024. The Justice Department said he taught the attackers how to use AK-style rifles and other weapons and communicated with them during the attack, in which they killed more than 100 civilians.
“Sharifullah spent nearly a decade at the heart of a horrific campaign of terror, providing critical support for attacks against civilians around the world,” said John A. Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
