Two explosions near Kabul airport amid evacuation

WASHINGTON • At least two explosions went off near Kabul airport yesterday amid a huge and chaotic evacuation effort from Afghanistan, the Pentagon said, with civilians and United States service members among the casualties.

A Taleban official said at least 13 people were killed in the blasts, including children, and many Taleban guards were wounded.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said one blast occurred near the airport's Abbey Gate and the other, close to the nearby Baron Hotel.

Two US officials said at least one of the explosions appeared to be from a suicide bombing.

"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," Mr Kirby said on Twitter. "We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate."

A US official told Reuters that as many as three US service personnel were among those hurt, and that US casualty numbers were expected to increase, according to initial information.

At least one of the US personnel was seriously hurt, an official said.

The United States Embassy in Kabul described "a large explosion" and said there had been reports of gunfire.

A source who was in touch with a witness told Reuters that there appeared to have been two separate attacks - one by a suicide bomber near buses lined up outside Abbey Gate, with the blast followed by small arms fire. The Abbey Gate is a main entryway to the airport.

The second occurred at Baron Gate, named after the nearby Baron Hotel. The source quoted the witness as saying that children were among the casualties.

The attacks came hours after US and allied officials said they had intelligence that suicide bombers tied to the Afghan arm of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group - the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) - were threatening to attack the airport ahead of Washington's Aug 31 deadline to finalise the evacuation. The IS-K group is known to be at odds with the Taleban.

A man who witnessed one attack told Afghan broadcaster TOLO News that "dead bodies and wounded people were scattered everywhere after the explosion happened."

"It was a very powerful explosion - we carried out the casualties on carts, and look at my clothes covered in blood," he added.

A massive airlift of foreign nationals and their families as well as some Afghans has been under way since the day before Taleban forces captured Kabul on Aug 15. France is still seeking to evacuate hundreds more people from Afghanistan ahead of a looming deadline, President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday, warning of an "extremely risky" situation in the wake of the blasts.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to chair an emergency response meeting yesterday on the situation in Kabul after the explosions, his office said.

European Council President Charles Michel said he was very concerned about the blasts, warning that instability in Afghanistan must not benefit terrorism.

"Securing safe passage to the airport remains vital," said Mr Michel. "We need to ensure the current instability cannot give rise to a resurgence of terrorism."

The US and its allies have mounted one of the biggest air evacuations in history, bringing out about 95,700 people, including 13,400 on Wednesday, the White House said yesterday.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES