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Kabul airport blast came from within crowd of passengers: Report

Kabul airport blast: The twin blasts created a global ripple as Kabul airport is the activity zone for all countries evacuating their people from Afghanistan. Emergency hospital in Kabul said around 60 wounded have arrived so far from airport explosions, Reuters reported.

Published on: Aug 26, 2021, 21:07:28 IST
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One of the two explosions outside Kabul's international airport which killed a dozen of US and Afghan people came from within the crowd, Afghanistan's Tolo News has reported citing eyewitnesses. The blast occurred from inside a crowd of Afghans close to the Baron camp, adjacent to the airport, an eyewitness told the Afghanistan media.

Medical and hospital staff bring an injured man on a stretcher for treatment after two blasts, which killed at least five and wounded a dozen, outside the airport in Kabul. (AFP)
Medical and hospital staff bring an injured man on a stretcher for treatment after two blasts, which killed at least five and wounded a dozen, outside the airport in Kabul. (AFP)

Two blasts took place near Kabul airport on Thursday morning as several countries were carrying out their evacuation process. The commotion at Kabul airport started on Thursday when Afghan forces reportedly fired into the air to disperse crowds near the airport when an Italian military transport plane was departing. The firing was not aimed at the Italian plane, reports said. Then came the explosions one after another, reports confirmed.

Kabul airport blast: 2 suicide attacks, American casualties. What we know so far

Where did the blasts take place?

One of the blasts took place near the airport's Abbey Gate and the other close to the Baron Hotel near the Baron Gate. The Baron hotel blast came from the crowd, Tolo News said. Though the origin of the attack is not clear, US officials suspect a suicide attack and the involvement of the Islamic State is also being doubted.

The attack took place around the time when US President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet his national security team regarding the situation in Afghanistan.

The attack sent a ripple across the world as several countries are carrying out their evacuation from Kabul.

IS Attack? US had intelligence

the United States and the allies urged Afghans to leave Kabul airport on Thursday citing a threat of an IS attack. In an alert issued on Wednesday evening, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul advised citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately, citing unspecified "security threats".

After the fall of Kabul on August 15, the Kabul airport has been in the focus of the world with many reports of violence, clashes pouring in. British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told the BBC on Thursday there was ”very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack” at the airport, possibly within “hours". Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his country had received information from the U.S. and other countries about the “threat of suicide attacks on the mass of people.”

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