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Terror in heart of Kabul, explosions rock airport
The attackers, including two suicide bombers, launched their assault at a gate where crowds of Afghans had gathered to get into the airport, the only way out of the country since it was taken over by the Taliban on August 15.
A group of suicide attackers and gunmen targeted crowds outside the Kabul airport amid a massive and chaotic evacuation effort from Afghanistan on Thursday, killing 64 people including four US troops, according to The Wall Street Journal, and raising serious questions about the security of flights by countries such as the US and India.
The attackers, including two suicide bombers, launched their assault at a gate where crowds of Afghans had gathered to get into the airport, the only way out of the country since it was taken over by the Taliban on August 15.
“We can confirm that a number of US service members were killed in today’s complex attack on Kabul airport,” said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby. “A number of others are being treated for wounds,” he said, calling it a “heinous attack”.
A senior Afghan official told WSJ that at least 60 Afghans were killed in the attack, with many more wounded,
US officials said they were concerned that further attacks could occur at the airport following the twin blasts, which a Taliban official earlier on Thursday said killed between 13 to 20 people, including children.
Western officials had 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.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. Reuters cited a source familiar with US congressional briefings as saying that American officials strongly believe the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, was responsible.
The attack came just a day after a group of 140 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus was barred from accessing Kabul airport by the Taliban. The group was scheduled to join others on a military flight that was set to bring back more than 180 people to New Delhi, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.
The flight subsequently brought back 24 Indians and 11 Nepalese citizens from Kabul. The people cited above said it was too early to say whether India would mount more evacuation flights from Kabul before the August 31 deadline for the complete drawdown of US and foreign forces from Afghanistan.
There was no official response from the Indian side to the attack, which came in the wake of several reports of a possible attack by the Islamic State on Kabul airport. A small team of Indian officials continues to be deployed at the airport to coordinate with other countries for the evacuation effort.
Two explosions
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby initially tweeted that an explosion at Abbey gate of Kabul airport was the “result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties”. He also confirmed another explosion “at or near the Baron Hotel”, located a short distance from Abbey gate.
Abbey gate was the entrance being used by American citizens for evacuation flights. Baron Hotel, located about 300 metres from the site of the first explosion, was being used by British troops as a base for evacuating UK citizens. There were reports that foreign troops began sealing and welding shut the airport gate.
Videos and photos following the attack showed dozens of people lying prone in pools of blood outside the airport, including in a sewage canal near the perimeter fence where scores of Afghans had lined up for their documents to be checked. The videos suggested that the toll could be higher than the official figures. Sameer Patil, fellow for international security studies at Gateway House, said: “The blast at Kabul airport will indeed complicate the evacuation process. While it’s not clear who carried out the suicide attack, what’s clear is that it was designed to drive away or empty out the surging crowds at the airport waiting for evacuation. It’s also a signal to the civilians that there will be consequences if they try to flee the Taliban rule.”
Biden holds meeting
The United States has been racing to carry out the airlift before its military is set to fully withdraw from the country by August 31. There was no indication from the White House that Biden plans to change the August 31 withdrawal target as a result of the attacks, a source familiar with the situation said.
Biden was in a meeting with security officials about the situation in Afghanistan, where the US is in the final steps of ending its 20-year war, when the explosion was first reported, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Biden, secretary of state Tony Blinken, defense secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley and vice president Kamala Harris monitored events via video links.
In an alert issued on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kabul had advised citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately, citing unspecified “security threats”.
A Western diplomat in Kabul said that areas outside the airport gates had been “incredibly crowded” again despite the warnings.
Taliban ‘condemn’ attack
Violence from Islamic State, if confirmed, creates a headache for the Taliban who have promised that their victory will bring peace to Afghanistan at last. Fighters claiming allegiance to IS began appearing in eastern Afghanistan at the end of 2014 and have established a reputation for extreme brutality.
The Taliban did not identify the attackers, but a spokesperson described them as “evil circles”.
“We strongly condemn this gruesome incident and will take every step to bring the culprits to justice,” said Taliban official Suhail Shaheen on Thursday.
