60 Afghans and 13 US soldiers killed in a Kabul airport assault.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In the final days of an airlift for people escaping the Taliban takeover,
two suicide bombers and gunmen assaulted thousands of Afghans coming to Kabul’s airport, turning a picture of desperation into one of terror. At least 60 Afghans and 13 US soldiers killed in the assaults, according to Afghan and US authorities.
The US general in charge of the evacuation said the assaults would not stop the US from evacuating Americans and others, and that aircraft was still being flown out. The commander of US Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, said there was a lot of security at the airport and that alternative routes were being utilized to bring refugees in. According to McKenzie, around 5,000 passengers were waiting for planes at the airport.
The explosions occurred only hours after Western authorities warned of a massive assault and advised passengers to flee the airport. However, Afghans eager to flee the country in the last days of an American-led evacuation before the US formally concludes its 20-year involvement on Aug. 31 overwhelmingly ignored that advice.
On its Amaq news outlet, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the murders. In Afghanistan, the IS branch is much more extreme than the Taliban, who seized control of the nation in a flash. The Taliban denied any involvement in the assault and denounced the explosions.
U.S. President Joe Biden said in an impassioned address from the White House that the recent carnage would not force the US out of Afghanistan any sooner than planned, and that he had ordered the military to prepare for an attack on IS.
“We are not going to forgive. We are not going to forget. “We’re going to find you and make you pay,” Biden warned.
Officials from the United States originally said that 11 Marines and one Navy medic were among those killed. After a few hours, another service member perished. Eighteen military personnel were injured, and authorities warned that the number of casualties may rise. According to an Afghan official, more than 140 Afghans were injured.
One of the bombs hit individuals knee-deep in a sewerage canal in the blazing heat,
hurling their corpses into the fetid water. Those who had planned to board planes were seen in a stupor bringing the injured to ambulances, their own clothing stained with blood.
Emergency, an Italian organization that runs hospitals in Afghanistan, claimed it had received at least 60 patients who had been injured in the airport assault, as well as ten who were already dead when they arrived.
“Surgeons will be working till the wee hours of the morning,” said Marco Puntin, the charity’s Afghanistan manager. More beds were added when the injured spilled from the triage zone into the physiotherapy section, he said.
Because he was not allowed to brief the media, the Afghan official who verified the total Afghan toll spoke on the condition of anonymity. Afghanistan
According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, one explosion occurred near an airport gate and another occurred near a hotel a short distance away. and According to McKenzie, an airport malfunction obviously enabled a suicide bomber to approach that close to the gate.
also According to him, the Taliban had been checking individuals outside the gates, but there is no evidence that the Taliban planned Thursday’s assaults. According to him, the US has requested that Taliban leaders beef up security around the airport’s perimeter.
When the first explosion occurred outside what is known as the Abbey gate, Adam Khan was close. He said that many individuals had been murdered or injured, including those who had been maimed.
The second explosion occurred at or near the Baron Hotel, where a large number of people,
including Afghans, Britons, and Americans, had been instructed to assemble in recent days before being evacuated to the airport. Later,
further explosions were reported, although Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that some of the explosives were put out by US troops to damage their equipment.
Former Royal Marines who now operate an animal sanctuary in Afghanistan claim they were caught up in the aftermath of the bombing near the airport.
“All of a sudden, we heard gunfire, and our car was targeted. If our driver hadn’t turned around, he would have shot in the head by a guy with an AK-47,” Paul “Pen” Farthing told the Press Association news agency in the United Kingdom.
Farthing is attempting to evacuate his Nowzad charity’s employees as well as the group’s rescued animals from Afghanistan.
Thousands of people are attempting to escape. aircraft after flight took off carrying people who fear a return to the insurgents’ harsh rule during the past week,
capturing some of the most harrowing pictures of the chaotic conclusion of America’s longest war and the Taliban’s control. When the Taliban were in control, women mainly confined to their homes and subjected to severe restrictions.
Some nations have already completed their evacuations and started to remove their troops and diplomats, marking the start of the end of one of the world’s biggest airlifts. The Taliban have demanded that all foreign soldiers and evacuations must leave by America’s self-imposed deadline of Aug. 31.
Despite this, the airlift resumed on Thursday, despite the fact that the number of evacuees dropped for a second day as a result of the terror incident and further threats. Around 7,500 individuals evacuated between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m., Washington time, according to a White House official. About 5,100 people were transported by 14 US military aircraft, while 2,400 people were transported by 39 coalition flights.
In comparison, 19,000 people arrested in a 24-hour period at the start of the week. Afghanistan
Biden spent most of the morning in the secret White House Situation Room in Washington,
where he briefed on the explosions and spoke with his national security staff and commanders in Kabul.
Overnight, Western capitals issued warnings about the danger posed by IS,
which has seen its numbers bolstered by the Taliban’s release of captives during its march across Afghanistan.
The interim US ambassador to Kabul, Ross Wilson, said the security threat at Kabul airport overnight “clearly viewed as genuine,
as immediate, as compelling” only hours before the assault. However, in an interview with ABC News, he refused to provide any information.
Due to an undisclosed security concern, the US Embassy issued a warning to Americans at three airport gates late Wednesday. Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand all urged their nationals not to fly on Thursday.
The Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, denied that an assault planned at the airport,
where the group’s militants had deployed and employed heavy-handed methods to control crowds on occasion. Following the assault, he attempted to absolve himself of responsibility by pointing out that the airport is under US authority.
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Before the explosion, the Taliban blasted water cannons at people gathered at one airport entrance in an attempt to disperse the gathering, while tear gas canisters fired elsewhere.
Outside the airport, Nadia Sadat, a 27-year-old Afghan woman, was carrying her 2-year-old daughter.
She and her husband, who had previously worked with coalition troops, had missed a call from what they thought was the State Department and were attempting to enter the airport without success. Her husband had pushed his way through the throng to get them inside.
Sadat stated, “We have to find a way to escape since our lives are in danger.” “Unknown sources sent my husband numerous threatening texts. We have no choice except to flee. “
Fearing that the Taliban might attack his daughter and her family due to her husband’s NATO job, Aman Karimi, 50, accompanied his daughter and her family to the airport.
“The Taliban has already started looking for individuals who cooperated with NATO,” he added. “At night, they go from house to home searching for them.”
IS’s Sunni extremists, who have ties to the group’s more well-known branch in Syria and Iraq,
have carried out a number of horrific assaults, mostly against Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority,
including a 2020 attack on a maternity facility in Kabul, in which mothers and babies murdered.
In Afghanistan, where the Taliban reclaimed power almost 20 years after being expelled in a US-led assault,
the Taliban have battled Islamic State fighters. Following the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaida planned while protected by the organization, the Americans went in.
Canada stopped its evacuations in the face of the warnings and the impending American departure, Afghanistan
while European countries paused or planned to cease their own operations.
The Taliban have said that beyond the deadline next week, Afghans will be able to depart on commercial planes,
although it is unclear which airlines will return to a Taliban-controlled airport. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said discussions with the Taliban were ongoing regarding enabling Turkish civilian specialists to assist in the operation.
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