The blast at the Abbey Gate entrance of the Hamid Karzai International Airport left about 170 Afghans and 13 US service members dead during the chaotic withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
Over the weekend, the US military began to inform the families of the 11 Marines, the sailor and the soldier who died in the attack that the ISIL leader had been killed. Those family members then shared the information in a private group messaging chat, according to the mother of another Marine, Aljazeera reported.
The account from the families to The Associated Press news agency was confirmed by three US officials and a senior congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that had not yet been made public.
The ISIL leader, whose identity has not yet been released, was killed in southern Afghanistan in early April as the Taliban conducted a series of operations against the group, according to one of the officials.
The Taliban fighters at the time were not aware of the identity of the person they killed, the official added.
MP/PR