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At least 13 American soldiers were killed and 18 were injured Bomb attack A US official said that at least 60 Afghan civilians were killed and many injured at Kabul Airport.
The Pentagon confirmed its 13th death late on Thursday.
It is believed that this is the largest number of people killed in a single incident in Afghanistan since a helicopter was shot down in August 2011, causing 30 deaths.
The Central Command spokesperson, Captain Bill Urban, said in a statement: “The 13th American soldier was injured in the attack on the gate of the monastery.”
Despite the attack, the commander of the U.S. Central Command and Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. stated that the U.S. is “continuing its mission” to evacuate U.S. citizens and as many Afghanistan as possible with documents to leave the country. people.
“Our task is to evacuate American citizens or third-country nationals, especially immigrant visa holders, American embassy staff and Afghans in danger,” MacKenzie said.
Earlier, two US officials told the Associated Press that of the 12 people killed initially, 11 were Marines and 1 was a naval medic. There is no information on the 13th death case.
The United States currently has 5,800 soldiers evacuating thousands of American citizens, Afghans and others at Kabul Airport.
On August 26, 2021, two explosions occurred outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, which reportedly caused multiple casualties and the injured were taken to the hospital [Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]Mackenzie said that the apparent suicide vest attack took place at the monastery gate of the airport, where the US military was checking Afghan civilians in order to enter the airport.
Mackenzie said that after the bomb detonated, the “Islamic State gunmen” also opened fire on the crowd and the US military.
This is the first time the US military has died due to hostilities since two Army Special Forces soldiers were killed in a green-to-blue internal attack by an Afghan soldier in February 2020.
According to the Department of Defense, since the US invasion following the Al-Qaida attack on September 11, 2001, 11 American servicemen were killed in 2020 and 24 were killed in 2019, bringing the total number of US military deaths in Afghanistan to 2,218.
According to data from Brown University and the Brookings Institution, which tracked data, more than 71,000 Afghan civilians and 66,000 Afghan soldiers and policemen were killed in the war.
Two bombs were detonated by apparent suicide bombers near the gate of the monastery, where Afghans lined up to enter the airport. The second bomb is near the Baron Hotel, where many British citizens have been waiting to evacuate.
“The impact of these explosions is huge,” said Rossella Micchio, chairman of the emergency situation of the non-governmental medical aid organization.
Micho told Al Jazeera that emergency rescuers had received about 60 injured Afghan civilians, who had broken limbs, fractured and wounded with projectiles, and 6 people were killed.
The responsibility for the explosion was initially blamed on the ISIS (ISIL) organization’s subsidiary in Afghanistan, the Islamic State ISKP (ISIS-K) in Khorasan Province. A US official who asked not to be named told the Associated Press.
“If we can find people involved in this matter, we will track them down,” McKenzie said.
“We are now working very hard to find people related to this.”
According to Agence France-Presse, ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack on the website, and the Arabic-language telegram channel censored by Al Jazeera confirmed the name of the attacker.
Others cautioned against drawing conclusions about the source of the attack.
Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said: “Although it is too early to draw any conclusions about those responsible, ISIS-K has a clear motive to undermine our efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people.” Earlier in the day. Of a statement.
The United States and the United Kingdom have repeatedly issued official warnings that people trying to enter the airport may be bombed.
The White House stated that 13,400 people were evacuated in the 24 hours that ended early on Thursday morning, East Coast time, which was a sharp drop from the 19,000 people transported by various means the day before.
President Joe Biden heard a briefing from his national security team at the White House on Thursday. He was criticized in the US Congress for the crisis in Afghanistan due to the withdrawal of US troops.
Senator Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a tweet: “While we wait for more details to be announced, one thing is clear: we cannot entrust the safety of Americans to the Taliban. “
I strongly condemn the bombing outside the Kabul airport that targeted American citizens, personnel, and vulnerable Afghans trying to flee Afghanistan.
As we waited for more details to appear, one thing became clear: We cannot entrust the safety of Americans to the Taliban. https://t.co/17zUk5VBDu
-Senate Foreign Relations Committee (@SFRCdems) August 26, 2021
How Biden will respond and whether the bombing will affect the U.S. withdrawal and the planned withdrawal on August 31 is unclear.
The first meeting between Biden and the new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday was postponed for one day, and the virtual meeting between Biden and state governors to discuss resettlement of Afghan refugees was also cancelled.
Biden had previously warned the Taliban that if American personnel responsible for evacuating American citizens and Afghan civilians from the airport were attacked, the United States would respond by force.
“At the time of our evacuation, we had made it clear to the Taliban that if they attacked our personnel or disrupted our operations, the American presence would respond quickly and swiftly and forcefully. If necessary, we will use destructive force. Protect our people,” Biden said at the White House on August 16.
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