Edge's News: Civilians, US troops killed in Kabul blasts...President Biden - We will hunt you down and make you pay

Reports at least 60 civilians killed and dozens more wounded as Pentagon confirms 12 US service members died in two blasts.

At least 60 Afghans and 12 US troops have been killed and dozens of others wounded, medical sources and US officials have said, after two powerful explosions took place outside Kabul’s international airport amid a huge and chaotic evacuation effort from Afghanistan.

A “complex attack” on Thursday at the airport in Afghanistan’s capital caused a number of US and civilian casualties, the Pentagon said. 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 two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. 

“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,” 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 Taliban spokesperson confirmed that a third blast reported by local and international media around Kabul was from the US military destroying ammunitions.

Reports from Kabul said the explosion sounded like a ” very large thud, a huge bang”.

ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack outside Kabul airport, the group’s Amaq News Agency said on its Telegram channel.

I utterly condemn the barbaric terrorist attack in Kabul in which Afghans and members of the US military lost their lives.

The threat of terrorist attack is one of the constraints we’ve been operating under, but our evacuation effort continues with over 12,000 extracted so far. pic.twitter.com/DXCFPj9KQC

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 26, 2021

President Joe Biden said the reason there had been no American combat fatalities in Afghanistan since February 2020 prior to Thursday’s attack was because of the deal his predecessor Donald Trump had signed with the Taliban.

“The reason why there were no attacks on Americans… was because the commitment was made by President Trump, ‘I will be out by May 1; in the meantime, you agree not to attack any Americans’,” Biden said. “That was the deal. That’s why no American was attacked.” The US president added at the conclusion of his speech, “Ladies and gentlemen, it was time to end a 20-year war.”

President Joe Biden vowed to retaliate against the attack in Kabul, confirming that the bombings were carried out by ISKP, ISIL’s affiliate in Afghanistan. “To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget,” Biden said.

“We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests in our people with every measure at my command.”

General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, said US forces are coordinating with the Taliban to address the “extremely real” threat of attacks by ISKP, ISIL’s Afghanistan affiliate.

“We’re doing everything we can to be prepared for those attacks,” McKenzie said.

“That includes reaching out to the Taliban who are actually providing the outer security cordon around the airfield and make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us.”

The Taliban condemned deadly blasts outside Kabul airport on Thursday, in an area they said was under the control of US military. “The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the bombing targeting civilians at Kabul airport,” a statement released by the group’s spokesman on Twitter said. “The explosion took place in an area where US forces are responsible for security.”

Source: AP