Media reports says more than 100 people were killed, including at least 13 U.S. service members and 90 Afghans, at the Kabul airport Thursday when two blasts ripped through crowds trying to enter the American-controlled facility.
A suicide bomb attack at the airport’s Abbey Gate was reportedly followed by an assault by gunmen. Another bomb attack reportedly took place nearby, at a hotel outside the airport. Eighteen U.S. service members were injured, the Pentagon said, according to The World Street Journal.
The city’s main Emergency Hospital said on Twitter yesterday evening, at around 8:30 pm, that at least 60 wounded people were transferred to their facility so far.
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Citing its sources, Al-Jazeera says tens of thousands of people had been waiting outside the Abbey Gate earlier in the day. The explosions reportedly came after US officials and allies had warned people not to come to the area around Hamid Karzai International Airport due to the threat of an attack.
The Afghan affiliate of the ISIS (ISIL), known as the Islamic State Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), claimed responsibility for the attack.
The blast marks the first such attack in the country since the Taliban took control of Kabul 10 days ago and before the group had fully announced its new government.
The Wall Street Journal says the attack marked the deadliest day for the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2011, and came just five days before the Biden administration’s deadline for the complete military withdrawal from the country. The military expects more attacks, Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters.
According to The World Street Journal, U.S. President Biden on Thursday evening said he was heartbroken by the violence and vowed to retaliate for the attacks, while promising to continue evacuation efforts.
“We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Mr. Biden said in remarks at the White House. He said he had instructed his national security advisers to develop response plans to the attack.
