Secret Tip Led to Capture of Abbey Gate Terror Suspect

by A.R. Fomenko

VIENNA BUREAU – The whispered information was accurate, and the action was swift. Sources in Europe told Soldier of Fortune that U.S. intelligence last week received a secret tip regarding the whereabouts of a high value terror suspect. From there, “it went like lightning,” the sources said. Pakistani officials launched a precision operation to capture Mohammad Sharifullah near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and turned him over to American authorities.

The interrogation was “fruitful,” intelligence sources said. While talking to FBI agents on March 2, Sharifullah confessed to playing a pivotal role in multiple ISIS-K attacks – and explained how he was recruited to join the deadly terror network. 

Sharifullah told the FBI he was involved in the shocking 2021 bombing outside Abbey Gate at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, along with a bloody assault on a Moscow concert hall, and a deadly onslaught outside the Canadian embassy in Kabul, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.  

READ MORE: Militants in Pakistan Are Using Weapons the Pentagon Left Behind in Afghanistan

The attack at Abbey Gate shocked the most seasoned observers. It unfolded amid an already chaotic scene.

Attack at Abbey Gate

As the U.S. military scrambled to complete its final withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the chaos at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport turned deadly. Abbey Gate, the main entry point for evacuees, had become a bottleneck of humanity – thousands of civilians pressed together, desperate for a way out.

At 5:36 p.m. on August 26, the unthinkable happened. A lone ISIS-K suicide bomber slipped into the crowd. He detonated a powerful explosive device, unleashing carnage. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in the blast, along with scores of Afghan civilians. The Pentagon later identified the attacker as Abdul Rahman al-Logari, an ISIS-K militant who had used a body-worn IED to carry out the assault.

The full extent of the plot only came to light years later, when Sharifullah spoke to FBI agents.

Sharifullah told agents that he was recruited into ISIS-K in or around 2016. He worked for years on behalf of the terror group, he said, and supported a number of their lethal attacks. His duties included surveillance and logistics.

Sharifullah’s activities landed him in prison. He was behind bars in Afghanistan from approximately 2019 until mid-August of 2021. When he was released from prison, an ISIS-K member contacted him to help with an upcoming attack.

The recruiters gave him a motorcycle, money for a cell phone and a SIM card, and told him to set up a social media account for covert communications.

His mission? Reconnaissance. Sharifullah was ordered to scout a route near HKIA for an attacker, keeping an eye out for law enforcement and any American or Taliban checkpoints that might interfere with the operation. He reported back: the path was clear, the attacker would move undetected.

With his job done, Sharifullah was told to leave the area. Hours later, the attack ripped through HKIA. When news of the carnage reached him, he recognized the bomber—a fellow ISIS-K militant he had once known behind bars.

But Sharifullah’s terror activities didn’t stop there.

In March 2024, when ISIS-K gunmen stormed Crocus City Hall near Moscow, massacring 130 people in a brutal attack involving AK-style rifles and arson, Sharifullah played a behind-the-scenes role. He later told FBI agents that he had provided weapons training videos to would-be attackers under the direction of a senior ISIS-K leader. After the bloodshed, Russian authorities arrested four suspects. Sharifullah recognized two as men he had personally instructed.

His confessions expose the breadth of ISIS-K’s global network and the meticulous planning behind its atrocities, spanning continents and leaving devastation in its wake.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted this image on X, showing Sharifullah in custody.

Sharifullah now faces a raft of federal charges, including providing material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison.

FBI Director Kash Patel vowed there would be no letting up in the pursuit of justice.

“The FBI will never forget the loss of these American heroes,” Patel said. “We will continue to hunt down those who viciously murdered our warriors, we will find all responsible and bring them to justice.”

With Sharifullah now in U.S. custody, the hunt for accountability has taken a decisive turn.

A.R. Fomenko is based out of Soldier of Fortune’s Vienna Bureau.