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Two UK citizens, child of another, killed in Kabul airport attack: Government
British foreign minister Dominic Raab said two other UK nationals were injured in the attack that reportedly killed 13 US troops and over 70 Afghans.
In the deadly explosions that happened on Thursday outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, two British nationals and the child of a third UK citizen have been killed, British foreign minister Dominic Raab said in a statement on Friday, according to AFP.
"These were innocent people and it is a tragedy that as they sought to bring their loved ones to safety in the UK they were murdered by cowardly terrorists," Raab added in the statement.
The blasts that reportedly killed as many as 13 US troops and more than 70 Afghans have been claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) terrorists.
Raab further stated that two other British citizens were injured in the attack.
“Yesterday's despicable attack underlines the dangers facing those in Afghanistan and reinforces why we are doing all we can to get people out,” he pointed out.
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This comes after Britain’s Defence minister Ben Wallace said earlier in the day that the country would not accept any further people willing to catch flights to depart Afghanistan beyond the ones already inside the Kabul airport. He added that the UK was preparing the last 1,000 people inside the airfield who would leave the war-torn nation that recently fell in the hands of the Taliban on Friday – calling the end of the troops’ 20-year presence in the country.
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Meanwhile, the US on Friday said that there was no second explosion at or around the Baron Hotel in Kabul as was claimed on Thursday. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday “at least one other explosion” was reported at or near the hotel, located nearby to the Kabul airport.
"I can confirm for you that we do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, that it was one suicide bomber," US Army Major General William Taylor informed a press briefing. "We’re not sure how that report was provided incorrectly,” he added.
He further noted that nearly 5,400 people are still at the Kabul airport, waiting to board flights to leave Afghanistan. Notably, US President Joe Biden recently reaffirmed his decision to stick to the August 31 deadline to pull out troops from Afghanistan.
