The attack on Kabul airport kills 60 Afghans and 13 US troops

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans approaching Kabul airport on Thursday, transforming a scene of despair into one of terror in the waning days of an airlift. to those fleeing the Taliban capture. The attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

The U.S. general overseeing the evacuation said the attacks would not prevent the United States from evacuating Americans and others, and that flights continued. General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said there was a large amount of security at the airport and that alternative routes were being used to bring in evacuees. About 5,000 people were expecting flights to the airfield, McKenzie said.

The blasts came hours after Western officials warned of a major attack, which urged people to leave the airport. But that advice was largely ignored by Afghans desperate to flee the country in the last days of a U.S.-led evacuation before the U.S. officially ended its 20-year presence on Aug. 31.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killings on its Amaq news channel. ISIS affiliation in Afghanistan is far more radical than the Taliban, who recently took control of the country in a flash. The Taliban were not believed to be involved in the attacks and condemned the blasts.

In an emotional White House speech, U.S. President Joe Biden said the latest bloodshed would not expel the United States from Afghanistan earlier than planned and had instructed the U.S. military to develop it. plans to attack ISIS.

“We will not forgive. We will not forget it. We will chase you and make you pay, ”Biden said.

U.S. officials initially said 11 Marines and a Navy doctor were among those killed. Another member of the service died hours later. Eighteen members of the service were injured and officials warned the toll could rise. More than 140 Afghans were injured, an Afghan official said.

One of the bombers hit people standing to their knees in a sewage canal under the stifling sun, throwing bodies into the fetid water. Those who moments before had hoped to leave on flights could be seen carrying the wounded to stunned ambulances, in their own blood-stained clothes.

Emergency, an Italian charity that operates hospitals in Afghanistan, said it had received at least 60 patients injured in the airport attack, in addition to 10 who had died when they arrived.

“Surgeons will work through the night,” said Marco Puntin, the charity’s manager in Afghanistan. The injured overflowed the triage area into the physiotherapy area and more beds were added, he said.

The Afghan official who confirmed the Afghan general toll spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to report to the media.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said an explosion occurred near an airport entrance and another was within walking distance of a hotel. McKenzie made it clear that a failure at the airport allowed a suicide bomber to get so close to the door.

He said the Taliban have been examining people outside the gates, although there was no indication that the Taliban were deliberately allowing Thursday’s attacks. He said the US has called on Taliban commanders to tighten security at the airport perimeter.

Adam Khan was waiting nearby when he saw the first explosion outside what is known as the Abbey Gate. He said several people appeared to have died or were injured, including some who were maimed.

The second blast occurred at or near the Baron Hotel, where many people, including Afghans, British and Americans, were told to gather in the last few days before heading to the airport to evacuate them. Additional explosions could be heard later, but Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said U.S. forces caused some explosions to destroy their equipment.

A former Royal Marine who runs an animal shelter in Afghanistan says he and his staff were trapped after the blast near the airport.

“Suddenly we heard gunshots and our vehicle was attacked, if our driver hadn’t turned around, he would have been shot in the head by a man with an AK-47,” Paul “Pen” Farthing told the agency of the British Press Association.

Farthing is trying to remove staff from his charity Nowzad from Afghanistan, along with the rescued animals from the group.

He is among thousands of people trying to flee. Over the past week, the airport has been the scene of some of the hottest images of the chaotic end of America’s longest war and the Taliban’s takeover, as flight after flight took off transporting those who fear a return to the brutal regime of the militants. When the Taliban last came to power, they confined women largely in their homes and imposed draconian restrictions widely.

Some countries have already completed their evacuations and have begun withdrawing their soldiers and diplomats, indicating the beginning of the end of one of the largest air bridges in history. The Taliban have insisted that foreign troops must be outside the U.S.-imposed deadline of August 31, and evacuations must also end.

However, the airlift continued on Thursday, although the number of evacuees fell for a second day as the terrorist attack and additional threats kept people away. dit. Fourteen U..S. military flights carried about 5,100 and 39 coalition flights carried 2,400.

The total was compared to 19,000 in a 24-hour period towards the start of the week.

In Washington, Biden spent much of the morning in the White House Situation Room, where he was briefed on the explosions and met with his national security team and commanders on the ground in Kabul.

Overnight, warnings arose from Western capitals about an ISIS threat, which has seen its ranks increase for the release of prisoners by the Taliban during its advance through Afghanistan.

Shortly before the attack, U.S. Ambassador to Kabul Ross Wilson said the security threat at Kabul airport overnight was considered “clearly credible, as imminent as it is compelling.” “. But in an interview with ABC News, he would not give details.

On Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. embassy warned three-door citizens of the airport to leave immediately due to an unspecified security threat. Australia, Britain and New Zealand also advised their citizens on Thursday not to go to the airport.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied any imminent attack at the airport, where the group’s fighters have deployed and occasionally used heavy tactics to control the crowds. After the attack, he seemed to shirk guilt and noted that the airport is controlled by U.S. troops.

Prior to the blast, the Taliban sprayed a water cannon against those gathered at an airport gate to try to drive away the crowd, while someone threw tear gas canisters elsewhere.

Nadia Sadat, a 27-year-old Afghan, took her 2-year-old daughter with her out of the airport. She and her husband, who had worked with coalition forces, missed the call from a number they believed was the State Department and tried to enter the airport without any luck. Her husband had advanced through the crowd to try to get them in.

“We have to find a way to evacuate because our lives are in danger,” Sadat said. “My husband received several threatening messages from unknown sources. We have no choice but to escape. “

Aman Karimi, 50, escorted her daughter and family to the airport, fearing the Taliban would direct her because of her husband’s work with NATO.

“The Taliban have already started looking for those who have worked with NATO,” he said. “They look for them from house to house at night.”

ISIS Sunni extremists, who have links to the group’s best-known subsidiary in Syria and Iraq, have carried out a series of brutal attacks, mainly targeting Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority, including a assault in 2020 on a maternity ward in Kabul in which she killed women and babies.

The Taliban have been fighting Islamic State militants in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have withdrawn control nearly 20 years after being ousted in a U.S.-led invasion. The Americans entered after the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaeda orchestrated while they were protected by the group.

Amid warnings and the pending U.S. withdrawal, Canada ended its evacuations and European nations stopped or prepared to stop their own operations.

The Taliban have said they will allow Afghans to leave for commercial flights after the deadline next week, but it is still unclear which airlines would return to a militant-controlled airport. Turkish presidency spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said there were talks between his country and the Taliban to allow Turkish civilian experts to help run the facility.

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Faiez reported from Istanbul, Baldor reported from Washington and Krauss from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London; Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Sylvie Corbet in Paris; Jan M. Olsen of Copenhagen, Denmark; Rahim Faiez, Tameem Akhgar and Andrew Wilks in Istanbul; James LaPorta in Boca Raton, Florida; Mike Corder in The Hague, The Netherlands; Philip Crowther in Islamabad; Colleen Barry in Milan; and Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee, and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

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