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On Thursday, two explosions occurred near the main entrance of Kabul Airport, causing many casualties. The US military called it a “complex attack”. At that time, all countries were scrambling to evacuate from Afghanistan.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the bombings caused “many” American and civilian casualties, just a few hours after Western officials said they had intelligence that they planned to carry out suicide bombings at the airport.
Kirby said in a Twitter statement: “We can confirm that the explosion at the gate of the monastery was caused by a complex attack that caused some American and civilian casualties.”
He said: “We can also confirm that at least one explosion occurred in or near the Baron Hotel not far from the gate of the Abbey.”
The Baron Hotel, about 200 meters from the gate of the Abbey, has been used as a transit point for evacuation by some Western countries since the airlift started on August 14.
The US State Department stated that there were also reports of gunfire.
“U.S. citizens should avoid going to the airport and avoid the airport boarding gate. People who are now at the monastery gate, east gate or north gate should leave immediately,” it said.
In the past 12 days, thousands of people have gathered near the gate of the monastery and other entrances of Hamid Karzai International Airport, hoping to evacuate after the Taliban control the country.
US officials said the Taliban cooperated with evacuation efforts.
However, US and allied officials said in the past day that their intelligence showed that suicide bombers related to the Da’esh group in Afghanistan threatened to attack the airport before the August 31 deadline in Washington to complete the evacuation.
As we all know, the organization has differences with the Taliban.
Earlier on Thursday, British Armed Forces Minister James Shipper called the threat “imminent.”
The British Ministry of Defence said after the explosion that they are working “urgently” to understand what happened and how this will affect evacuation operations.
“Our biggest concern is still the safety of our personnel, British citizens and Afghan citizens. We maintain close contact with our United States and other NATO allies at the operational level to respond immediately to this incident,” the ministry said.
Most member states of the coalition led by the United States stated that they have ended or will soon end their evacuation flights from Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Since the start of international airlift on August 14, the total number of people evacuated from US-controlled hubs reached 95,700 on Thursday, including Afghans and foreign nationals.
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