Two explosions at Kabul airport in 'terrorist attack'; dozens killed
WASHINGTON: Islamic Land struck the crowded gates of Kabul aerodrome in a suicide bomb assail on Thursday (Aug 26), killing scores of civilians and at least xiii US troops, and throwing into commotion the airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee.
Kabul health officials were quoted as proverb 60 civilians were killed. Video shot by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies strewn around a canal on the border of the aerodrome. At least two blasts rocked the surface area, witnesses said.
Islamic State said i of its suicide bombers targeted "translators and collaborators with the American army". Us officials also blamed the group.
The American casualties, which increased to 13 from 12 afterwards on Th according to US officials, were believed to exist the most US troops killed in Afghanistan in a single incident since 30 personnel died when a helicopter was shot downward in August 2011.
The attack was carried out as U.s. forces raced to consummate their withdrawal from Afghanistan, subsequently President Joe Biden said the United States had long ago achieved its original rationale for invading the country in 2001: to root out al Qaeda militants and forbid a echo of the Sep xi attacks on the Usa.
Biden vowed to go after the perpetrators of Thursday'south bombing and said he had ordered the Pentagon to program how to strike ISIS-Thousand, the Islamic State chapter that claimed responsibleness.
NATO Secretarial assistant Full general Jens Stoltenberg said allied forces should continue to evacuate as many vulnerable people as they can from Kabul despite what he branded a "horrific terrorist attack".
"Our priority remains to evacuate as many people to rubber every bit rapidly every bit possible," he tweeted.
Un Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the bombings as a "terrorist assail" and called a meeting of the permanent members of the Security Quango to discuss the chaotic situation in Afghanistan, a UN spokesman said.
"This incident underscores the volatility of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, but also strengthens our resolve as we continue to deliver urgent assist across the country in support of the Afghan people," Un spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
Corpses lay in the canal by the airport contend, video from the scene showed, some being fished out and laid in heaps while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.
"For a moment I thought my eardrums were blasted and I lost my sense of hearing. I saw bodies and body parts flying in the air like a tornado bravado plastic bags. I saw bodies, body parts, elders and injured men, women and children scattered," said i Afghan who had been trying to reach the airdrome. "That petty water flowing in the sewage canal had turned into claret."
The United states deaths were the first in activity in Afghanistan in 18 months, a fact likely to be cited past critics who accuse Biden of recklessly abandoning a stable and hard-won status quo past ordering an abrupt pullout.
General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the United states of america would printing on with evacuations, noting that there were withal around 1,000 US citizens in Afghanistan. But several Western countries said the mass airlift of civilians was coming to an finish, likely to leave no manner out for tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the W through ii decades of war.
McKenzie said US commanders were bracing for more attacks by Islamic Country, including perhaps rockets or vehicle-borne bombs targeting the airdrome.
"We're doing everything we can to exist prepared," he said.
Violence by Islamic State is a claiming for the Taliban, who take promised Afghans they will bring peace to the country they swiftly conquered. A Taliban spokesman described the assault as the work of "evil circles" who would be suppressed in one case foreign troops exit.
Western countries fear that the Taliban, who once sheltered Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, will allow Afghanistan to turn again into a oasis for militants. The Taliban say they will non permit the country be used by terrorists.
THREAT TO Airport
Zubair, a 24 year-old civil engineer, who had been trying for most a week to get inside the drome with a cousin who had papers authorising him to travel to the United States, said he was 50 metres from a suicide bomber who detonated explosives at the gate.
"Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people – men, women and children – being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals," he said, adding that after the explosions there was gunfire.
Washington and its allies had been urging civilians to stay abroad from the airport, citing the threat from Islamic State.
In the past 12 days, Western countries have evacuated nearly 100,000 people. Only they acknowledge that thousands volition be left behind following Biden'south order to pull out all troops by Aug 31.
The last few days of the airlift will mostly be used to withdraw the remaining troops. Canada and some European countries have already announced the finish of their airlifts.
Biden ordered all troops out of Afghanistan by the cease of the month to comply with a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban negotiated past his predecessor Donald Trump. Biden spurned calls this week from European allies for more fourth dimension.
The plummet of the Western-backed government in Afghanistan caught United states of america officials past surprise and risks reversing gains, especially in the rights of women and girls, millions of whom have been going to schoolhouse and piece of work, once forbidden nether the Taliban.
Biden has dedicated the decision to exit, proverb US forces could non stay indefinitely. But his critics say the US force, which once numbered more than than 100,000, had been reduced in recent years to only a few thousand, no longer involved in fighting on the footing and mainly confined to an air base. It was a fraction of the size of US military machine contingents that accept stayed in places such equally Korea for decades.
Fighters claiming allegiance to Islamic State began appearing in eastern Transitional islamic state of afghanistan at the end of 2022 and have established a reputation for extreme brutality. They take claimed responsibleness for suicide attacks on civilians, government targets and indigenous and sectarian minorities.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/world/kabul-airport-explosions-afghanistan-casualties-terror-attack-taliban-us-islamic-state-279831
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