Law enforcement in Virginia released a mugshot of the terror suspect who the Justice Department says confessed to scouting the attack route in 2021’s Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan, which left 13 service members dead.
ISIS-K member Mohammad Sharifullah made his first federal court appearance in Virginia Wednesday on a charge of providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.
He wore a light-blue jail jumpsuit and listened through headphones as an interpreter translated the proceedings, according to the Associated Press.
His public defender declined to comment after his court appearance, which ended with him being held until at least a detention hearing set for Monday.
ALLEGED ABBEY GATE PLOTTER EXTRADITED TO US TO FACE ‘JUSTICE FOR OUR 13,’ FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL SAYS
Sharifullah was extradited to the U.S. on Tuesday night to “face American justice,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
“3 and 1/2 years later, justice for our 13,” Patel added on X.
President Donald Trump announced Sharifullah’s capture during his address before a joint Congress, saying he was “pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity.”
ISIS-K MEMBER CONFESSED TO SCOUTING ABBEY GATE ATTACK ROUTE, TRAINING MOSCOW ATTACKERS: AFFIDAVIT
During the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, American and coalition forces were conducting an evacuation operation at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Abbey Gate was the main entry point for the operation, and thousands of civilians were in the area on Aug. 26, 2021, according to the Justice Department.
Around 5:36 p.m. that day, Abdul Rahman al-Logari – a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), “detonated a body-worn suicide bomb at Abbey Gate, killing 13 U.S. military service members and approximately 160 civilians,” the Justice Department said.
Sharifullah confessed to scouting the attack route and training gunmen involved in a terrorist attack near Moscow last year, according to a Justice Department affidavit released this week.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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