KABUL: Suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport with at least two explosions, causing a bloodbath among civilians and killed more than 73 civllians and 13 US military personnel left over 150 more injured and effectively shutting down the Western airlift of Afghans desperate to flee.
A Taliban official said at least 73 people including children had been killed in the attack and over 150 were wounded, though it was clear from video footage that those figures were far from complete. One surgical hospital run by an Italian charity said it alone was treating more than 60 wounded.
The explosions took place amid the crowds outside the airport who have been massing for days in hope of escaping in an airlift which the United States says will end by Tuesday, following the swift capture of the country by the Taliban.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but US officials pointed the finger at Daesh, which has emerged as enemies of both the West and of the Taliban.
A witness said he went to the airport in the hope of getting a visa for the United States. “There was a very strong and powerful suicide attack, in the middle of the people. Many were killed, including Americans,” he said.
Zubair, a 24 year-old civil engineer, who had been trying for a nearly week to get inside the airport with a cousin who had papers authorising him to travel to the United States, said he was 50 metres from the first of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives at the gate.
“Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people – men, women and children – being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals,” he said, adding that after the explosions there was gunfire.
Taliban official Suhail Shaheen said there were two explosions in a crowded area managed by US forces. “We strongly condemn this gruesome incident and will take every step to bring the culprits to justice.”
The Taliban did not identify the attackers, but a spokesman described it as the work of “evil circles” who would be suppressed once the foreign troops leave.
The Pentagon said “a number” of American service members were killed. One US official said according to initial reports at least 10 had died.
There was no complete death toll, but video images uploaded by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies of people killed in tightly packed crowds outside the airport.
A watery ditch by the airport fence was filled with bloodsoaked corpses, some being fished out and laid in heaps on the canal side while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.
Several Western countries said the airlift of civilians was now effectively over, with the United States having sealed the gates of the airport leaving no way out for tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the West through two decades of war.
Washington and its allies had been urging civilians to stay away from the airport on Thursday, citing the threat of Daesh suicide attack.
Read more: Over 60 civilians, 13 US troops killed in bloodbath at Kabul airport
