Two suicide bombers and gunmen have attacked crowds of Afghans at Kabul’s airport, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover.
At least 60 people were killed, medical sources told Al Jazeera, and dozens of others were wounded in the blasts on Thursday.
Among the dead were dozens of civilians and 12 US service members.
The ISIL (ISIS) group, has claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s Amaq News Agency said on its Telegram channel.
The ISIL affiliate in Afghanistan, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), is opposed to Western nations as well as the Taliban.
Warnings from western countries
Overnight on Wednesday, warnings emerged from Western capitals about a threat from ISIL, which has seen its ranks boosted by the Taliban’s freeing of prisoners during its advance through Afghanistan.
Late Wednesday, the US embassy warned citizens at three airport gates to leave immediately due to an unspecified security threat. Australia, the UK and New Zealand also advised their citizens Thursday not to go to the airport.
Western officials warned of a major attack, urging people to leave the airport, but that advice went largely unheeded by Afghans desperate to escape the country in the last few days of an American-led evacuation before the US officially ends its 20-year presence on August 31.
Desperate evacuations
Canada ended its evacuations and several European nations halted or prepared to stop their own operations.
Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, in a Tweet said “We will continue to evacuate as many people as we can until the end of the mission.”
The Taliban have said they will allow Afghans to leave via commercial flights after the August 31 deadline next week, but it remains unclear which airlines would return to an airport controlled by the group.
- Agencies
