About 103 people have been killed in twin blasts outside Kabul airport on Thursday night (Aug 26). As many as 109 Afghan nationals and 13 US troops are among those who have died in attack on Kabul airport, according to latest update of CNN.
Other media reports claimed that 28 members of Taliban have also died in this twin blasts’ attack.
Earlier, media reports indicated 85 casualties in Kabul airport blasts. At least 13 US soldiers were also killed in Thursday’s blasts, the worst single-day loss for American troops in Afghanistan since the August 2011.
The US troops helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule are bracing for more attacks.
Thursday’s attack was claimed by ISIL (ISIS) offshoot in Afghanistan, The Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), which said its suicide bombers singled out “translators and collaborators with the American army”.
US President Joe Biden pledged to retaliate against the attack in Kabul, confirming that the bombings were carried out by ISIS-K. “We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests in our people with every measure at my command,” he said.
aliban says 28 of its members killed in airport blasts
At least 28 members of the Taliban are among the people killed in explosions overnight outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, a Taliban official told Reuters news agency.
“We have lost more people than the Americans,” said the official, who declined to be identified. He said there was no reason to extend the August 31 deadline for foreign forces to leave the country.
Australia pulled out its troops ahead of Kabul blasts
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday his country has already completed its evacuation operations in Afghanistan.
The country pulled out its troops out Kabul just before the bombings on Thursday, after receiving “very clear intelligence” of an impending attack.
“We were able to ensure the departure of the remaining Australian personnel over the course of last night, not that long before the terrible events that unfolded last night took place,” Morrison said at a news conference.
He also said that American and British forces had helped Australia over nine days to evacuate some 4,100 people, including 3,200 Australians and Afghan citizens with Australian visas.
