12 US marines, 60 Afghans killed in Kabul terror attacks
•Saudi Arabia strongly condemns suicide blasts •Daesh claims responsibility
Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport on Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. At least 60 Afghans and 12 US troops were killed, Afghan and US officials said.
US officials said 11 marines and one Navy medic were among those who died. They said another 12 service members were wounded and warned the toll could grow. More than 140 Afghans were wounded, an Afghan official said.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, the group’s Amaq News Agency said on its Telegram channel. The US general overseeing the evacuation said the US will “go after” the perpetrators of the Kabul airport attacks if they can be found.
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 blood-soaked corpses, some being fished out and laid in heaps on the canal side while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the Kingdom “strongly condemns and denounces the terrorist attack.” The ministry expressed hope for stability in Afghanistan as soon as possible, stressing its support for the Afghan people.
It reiterated the Kingdom’s position rejecting the criminal acts, “which are incompatible with all religious principles and moral and human values.”
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Twitter: “We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a
number of US and civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate.”
Several Western countries said the airlift of civilians was now effectively over, with the US 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.
The blasts came as the Aug. 31 deadline looms for the US to withdraw its troops, and for it and other Western countries to end a massive airlift that has already evacuated nearly 100,000 people.
The airport is the only part of the country under foreign control following the Taliban’s return to power on Aug. 15, and huge crowds have massed in the hope of being evacuated.
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 Taliban condemned the blasts, saying they were in an area under US military control.
“The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the bombing targeting civilians at Kabul airport,” said a statement released by Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesman, on Twitter.
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 authorizing him to travel to the US, said he was 50 meters 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. After the explosions there was gunfire.
Violence from Daesh creates a headache for the Taliban who have promised that their victory will bring peace to Afghanistan at last.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain’s airlift would continue “going up until the last moment. We are able to continue with the program in the way we have been running it, according to the timetable that we have got and that is what we are going to do.”