Two British adults and child die in Kabul blast

TWO British adults and the child of a British national have been confirmed to be among those killed in the Kabul airport attack.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed the deaths and said a further two people were injured in the attack, which US officials now believe to have been one blast at Kabul airport on Thursday, rather than the originally suspected two.

Mr Raab said: “These were innocent people and it is a tragedy that as they sought to bring their loved ones to safety in the UK they were murdered by cowardly terrorists.”

It is understood the child who died was a teenager, while those injured are an adult British national and an Afghan child with a British family.

Mr Raab added: “Yesterday’s despicable attack underlines the dangers facing those in Afghanistan and reinforces why we are doing all we can to get people out. We are offering consular support to their families.

“We will not turn our backs on those who look to us in their hour of need, and we will never be cowed by terrorists.”

At least 95 Afghans were killed in the attack, officials said.

Afghan and US officials had earlier said the bombings killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 US troops, in the deadliest day for US forces in Afghanistan since August 2011.

The US government has said further attempted attacks are expected ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America’s longest war.

Kabul residents said several flights took off yesterday morning, while the anxious crowd outside the airport was as large as ever.

In one location, dozens of Taliban members with heavy weapons about 500 metres from the airport were preventing anyone from venturing forward.

Earlier, in an emotional speech in Washington DC, US president Joe Biden blamed the incident on the affiliate of the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan (Isis-K), a far more radical force than the Taliban militants who seized power less than two weeks ago.

Mr Biden said: “We will rescue the Americans; we will get our Afghan allies out, and our mission will go on.”

But despite intense pressure to extend Tuesday’s deadline, he has cited the threat of terrorist attacks as a reason to keep to his plan. The Taliban, back in control of Afghanistan two decades after they were ousted in a US-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, insists on the deadline.

In February 2020, the Trump administration struck an agreement with the Taliban that called for it to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for the removal of all US troops and contractors by May 2021.

Mr Biden announced in April he would have them out by September.

While the US on Thursday said more than 100,000 people have been safely evacuated from Kabul, as many as 1,000 Americans and tens of thousands more Afghans are struggling to leave in one of history’s largest airlifts.

The White House said yesterday morning that 8,500 evacuees had been flown out of Kabul aboard US military aircraft in the previous 24 hours, as well as about 4,000 people on coalition flights.