Taliban Members Among Those Killed In Kabul Airport Blasts

Kabul: At least 60 Afghans were killed, 13 U.S. troops, and another 143 were wounded when two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport. Near about 5,000 people were awaiting flights on the airfield.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Kabul airport suicide attack. The Taliban were not believed to have been involved in the attacks and condemned the blasts, according to AP reports.

One of the bombers struck people standing knee-deep in a wastewater canal under the sweltering sun, throwing bodies into the fetid water. The second blast was at or near Baron Hotel, where many people, including Afghans, Britons and Americans, were told to gather in recent days before heading to the airport for evacuation.

US President Joe Biden has vowed to “hunt” down the terrorists and make them “pay” for the deadly attacks outside the Kabul airport. “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm notice, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that US forces helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule braced for more attacks on Friday. A health official and a Taliban official were quoted as saying that the toll of Afghans killed had risen to 72, including 28 Taliban members.

A Taliban official lamented the number of Taliban members killed in the ISIS attack. “We have lost more people than the Americans in the airport blast,” a Taliban official was quoted as saying, adding that the Taliban was “not responsible for the chaotic evacuation plan prepared by foreign nations.”