Kabul airport explosion appears to be suicide attack, US officials say - CNA

There were few details yet of the attack, but Western countries have been warning of a potential attack by Islamic State militants.

The Taliban, whose fighters are guarding the perimeter outside the airport, are enemies of the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region.

"Our guards are also risking their lives at Kabul airport, they face a threat too from the Islamic State group," said a Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and before the reports of the explosion.

A massive airlift of foreign nationals and their families, as well as some Afghans, has been under way since the day before Taliban forces captured Kabul on Aug 15, capping a swift advance across the country as US and allied troops withdrew.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the explosion, according to a White House official. Biden was in a meeting with security officials about the situation in Afghanistan, where the United States is in the final steps of ending its 20-year war, when the explosion was first reported, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The United States has been racing to carry out the airlift before its military is set to fully withdraw from the country on Aug 31.

In an alert issued on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kabul had advised citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately, citing unspecified "security threats".

A Western diplomat in Kabul said that areas outside the airport gates had been "incredibly crowded" again despite the warnings.

The United States 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 on Thursday.

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2021-08-26 14:23:00Z
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