Kabul airport blasts hit crowds amid evacuations

A British security official said both attacks were committed by suicide bombers.

Western governments have repeatedly warned of an imminent attack by the Islamic State and have urged its citizens not to approach the airport. After the blasts, the U.S. embassy told all Americans to leave the airport tickets immediately.

The blast at the airport abbey door was the result of a complex attack, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said. He said another blast occurred near the Baron Hotel adjacent to the airport.

An Afghan man trying for the fifth time to enter the airport and board one of the evacuation planes was in the crowd in front of Abbey Gate when the detonation occurred. “A lot of people got hurt,” he said over the phone. “I helped a girl. I think he died. “

Another Afghan man who was on the edge of the crowd near the Baron Hotel said the blast occurred amid thousands of people. He said he saw many mutilated and bloodied people come out and was informed of many fatalities.

Photographs allegedly near the site of the blast showed civilians carrying injured and bloodied people in trucks. The Kabul Emergency Hospital, run by an Italian organization, said 30 patients had arrived at its surgical center, including six who had died on arrival.

Separately, Italy said its C-130 plane full of Afghan refugees was set on fire on Thursday on take-off, but was not damaged. An Italian journalist aboard the plane said the pilot had to take evasive action.

Thursday’s blast came after several U.S. allies said they were stopping evacuation flights from Afghanistan, leaving behind citizens and thousands of Afghans who had been authorized for entry.

Air transport opportunities began to fade amid warnings of an impending terrorist attack and when the United States began liquidating operations in Kabul before the August 31 withdrawal deadline. Desperate Afghans and foreign nationals were still trying to reach Kabul International Airport, but on Thursday morning they found roads blocked by Taliban controls.

“It’s all over,” said a 30-year-old teacher who tried to get to the airport. “They don’t let anyone pass, not even those with foreign passports or visas.”

Thousands of Westerners and permanent residents remain trapped in Afghanistan and many fear they will be abandoned to face possible Taliban retribution. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that about 1,500 U.S. citizens were still in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and that Washington was in contact with about 500 of them, trying to organize evacuations.

Bismillah, a green card resident living in Sacramento, California, said he traveled to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif to visit his parents on Aug. 3 with his wife, also a permanent resident in the United States. United, and his eight-month-old son, a U.S. citizen. The family headed to Kabul when the Afghan government collapsed on August 15, but Bismillah, who refused to provide his last name, said he feared his baby would die crushed among the crowds and not try to get to the airport. .

“I feel like we will be left behind. I don’t know what will happen next week: you can’t predict what will happen in Afghanistan one day, “said Bismillah, who worked at Amazon.com Inc.

in California and is currently in Mazar-e-Sharif. “We’re really worried about ourselves.”

The UK warned its citizens on Wednesday afternoon to stay away from the airport at the risk of an attack. The Foreign Ministry said in official advice to travelers that people should not go to the airport and if they were already there, they should leave.

“The credibility of the reports has reached the stage where we believe there is a very imminent, very lethal attack, possibly in Kabul,” James Heappey, the UK’s Armed Forces Minister, said in an interview released Thursday .

The evacuations end as the Taliban cement their control over the country. Although leaders of the Islamist movement have met with prominent figures from the fallen Afghan republic, such as former President Hamid Karzai and peace chief negotiator Abdullah Abdullah, the visits were mostly courteous and did not discuss the issue. exchange of power, said a person familiar with the meetings. The person told Mr. Karzai, in particular, did not leave his premises for security, a mild form of house arrest.

Since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban took control of Kabul, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 95,700 people from Afghanistan, the White House said. During the 24 hours that ended at 3 a.m. Thursday, some 13,400 people were evacuated, about 5,100 on U.S. military flights, he said.

The Dutch Ministry of Defense said in a letter to parliament on Thursday that it would leave flight operations at the end of the day, hoping to evacuate several hundred people who were already inside the airport, with staff diplomat and Dutch troops leaving on the final flight. The ministry added that it could no longer help its eligible Afghan citizens and citizens access the airport.

“This is a painful time because it means that despite the great efforts of the past period, people eligible for evacuation in the Netherlands will be left behind,” the letter said. These include Dutch and Afghan citizens who had worked with Dutch forces deployed as part of the US-led coalition.

Poland, which has flown more than 900 Afghan citizens since the fall of Kabul, said it was also ending its evacuation program following decisions by its allies, the United States and the United Kingdom “The situation is difficult, until and all dramatic, and more and more difficult every hour, “Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.

The Italian Defense Ministry said its last flight would leave Kabul on Thursday night. Canada also said it had ended its evacuation effort. French Prime Minister Jean Castex told French radio station RTL that the country could no longer evacuate citizens after Friday. Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen said on Wednesday that Denmark had already flown its last evacuation flight and that it was no longer safe to enter and leave Kabul. UK Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said in a public interview that the country has 11 flights scheduled for Thursday, but declined to say whether these would be the last, citing the need to protect troops on the ground. .

—Zamir Saar, Erin Delmore, Jalaludin Nazari, Dion Nissenbaum, Nancy A. Youssef and Vivian Salama contributed to this article.

Write to Yaroslav Trofimov to [email protected] and Sune Engel Rasmussen to [email protected]