Thirteen US servicemen were killed and 18 wounded outside Kabul’s airport after two bomb attacks, the Pentagon and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health reported.
At least 90 people, including children, died. Also, more than 150 had been injured, international media reported.
On Thursday night, the area outside the Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul was rocked by a flurry of gunfire and two blasts, witnesses told Reuters news agency.
A dramatic video published by local journalists showed dozens of bodies strewn around the scene.
According to a health official and a Taliban official, Afghan deaths exceeded 72, including 28 Taliban militants.
The deadly explosions came as Western countries banded together and rushed to mass evacuate their citizens and local allies after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
According to the White House, the United States and other allied nations have organized the largest air evacuations in history, bringing out over 100,000 people since August 15.
US President Joe Biden said yesterday that more than 7,000 people were transferred in the last 12 hours.
The UK government stated that its soldiers had evacuated more than 13,000 people from Afghanistan since evacuations began.
Over 5,200 soldiers remain deployed at Kabul airport as evacuation efforts, which have involved over 100 countries, advance.
The United States and the United Kingdom said their efforts to evacuate people would continue despite the bombs.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his government would continue to work “flat out” until “the last moment” despite the “despicable” attack at the Afghan capital’s airport.
The United States announced that it had been preparing for more attacks today as its soldiers help evacuate Afghans who desperately try to flee the Taliban regime.
United States President Joe Biden warned the attacks’ perpetrators: “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
Following agreements with the Taliban, foreign troops in Afghanistan hope to evacuate their citizens and diplomatic personnel before August 31.
In another development, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for Kabul airport’s blasts, saying one of its militants carried out the suicide attack.
Although the group -an enemy of the Taliban and the West- did not show evidence to support its claims, US officials believe ISIS is likely behind the attacks.
On Thursday, Biden revealed that he had directed US military commanders “to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities.”
