ISIS-K OPERATIVE SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR ROLE IN ABBEY GATE BOMBING AND YEARS OF TERROR ATTACKS

WASHINGTON — Afghan national Mohammad Sharifullah, a member of the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-Khorasan Province, known as ISIS-K, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for participating in a nearly decade-long conspiracy to provide material support and resources to the designated foreign terrorist organization.

Sharifullah’s terrorist activity stretched from 2016 until his apprehension in 2025 and included operational support for more than a dozen ISIS-K attacks. His activities included surveillance of potential targets, transportation of suicide bombers, movement and cleaning of weapons, communications between ISIS-K personnel, weapons instruction, and recording explosions for terrorist propaganda.

Among the attacks connected to Sharifullah was the August 26, 2021 bombing at Abbey Gate outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the chaotic final stages of the U.S. and Coalition evacuation operation.

Thousands of civilians had gathered near Abbey Gate seeking evacuation when ISIS-K carried out the suicide bombing.

According to court records, ISIS-K leadership assigned Sharifullah to surveil a road leading to the airport to determine whether Taliban checkpoints could interfere with the attack.

At approximately 2 p.m., Sharifullah traveled the assigned route and reported back to ISIS-K leadership that the path was clear.

Roughly three and a half hours later, at approximately 5:36 p.m., ISIS-K operative Abdul Rahman al-Logari detonated a body-worn explosive device at Abbey Gate.

Sharifullah knew al-Logari from time they had previously spent together in an Afghan prison.

The explosion killed 13 U.S. military service members and approximately 160 civilians.

Sharifullah’s involvement with ISIS-K attacks began years before Abbey Gate.

On June 20, 2016, an ISIS-K suicide bomber targeted Nepali security guards protecting the Canadian Embassy in Kabul.

Prior to that bombing, Sharifullah conducted surveillance intended to prepare the attacker and then transported the suicide bomber to the attack location.

His operational role continued for years.

Federal authorities also tied Sharifullah to the March 22, 2024 attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, where ISIS-K gunmen opened fire on civilians.

Sharifullah provided the attackers with instructions concerning the operation of AK-pattern rifles and other weapons and communicated with members of the attack team during the assault.

More than 100 civilians were killed during the Crocus City Hall attack.

Those incidents demonstrate the range of responsibilities Sharifullah performed for ISIS-K.

He was not confined to a single attack or function. Federal prosecutors established that he supported the terrorist organization through surveillance, logistical assistance, transportation, weapons handling, communications, attack preparation, and propaganda activity across multiple operations.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Sharifullah spent nearly a decade providing critical assistance to a campaign of terrorism that ultimately contributed to the deaths of American service members and civilians.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Theophani K. Stamos for the Eastern District of Virginia said the sentence provides a measure of justice to families who lost loved ones as a result of Sharifullah’s conduct.

FBI Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Jarod Brown said the distance between Afghanistan and the United States did not prevent federal authorities and their international partners from bringing Sharifullah to the United States to face justice.

FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Darren Cox described Sharifullah as an important operational link within ISIS-K who relayed communications, conducted surveillance, transported suicide bombers, and contributed to more than a dozen terrorist attacks.

Sharifullah was apprehended in 2025, ending nearly a decade of participation in ISIS-K operations.

His prosecution in the United States reflects the long reach of federal counterterrorism investigations when American citizens or military personnel are attacked overseas.

The Abbey Gate bombing occurred thousands of miles from U.S. territory, but the killing of American service members gave the investigation a direct U.S. national-security dimension.

ISIS-K operates as the Afghanistan-based regional affiliate of ISIS and has built its reputation around mass-casualty attacks against civilians, security forces, diplomatic interests, religious communities, and governments it considers enemies.

Sharifullah’s case also demonstrates how terrorist attacks rely on more than the individual who ultimately carries a weapon or detonates an explosive device.

Surveillance identifies vulnerabilities. Transportation moves attackers into position. Communications connect operational personnel. Weapons preparation equips attackers. Propaganda documents violence for recruitment and intimidation.

Each function can become part of the infrastructure necessary to carry out a terrorist attack.

At Abbey Gate, Sharifullah’s assigned role involved checking whether the route to the airport was free of Taliban checkpoints and reporting that information to ISIS-K leadership before al-Logari carried out the bombing.

At the Canadian Embassy attack in Kabul, he conducted surveillance and transported the suicide bomber.

For the Crocus City Hall attack, his role shifted again, providing weapons instructions and communicating with the attackers.

Federal authorities ultimately connected him to more than a dozen ISIS-K attacks between 2016 and 2025.

The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John T. Gibbs, Avi Panth, and Reed Sawyers of the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case alongside Trial Attorney Ryan D. White of the Justice Department National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Sharifullah’s 20-year sentence closes the prosecution of a man whose terrorist activity crossed years, borders, and multiple mass-casualty attacks.

The Abbey Gate bombing remains the most direct connection to the United States: 13 American service members killed while helping evacuate civilians from Afghanistan.

Five years after that bombing, the ISIS-K operative who confirmed the route was clear of Taliban checkpoints before the attack is now serving a federal prison sentence in the United States.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

🔥 NOW AVAILABLE! 🔥

‎👉 Eclipsera – Apple Music

---

---

---

---

---