Afghanistan: 13 People Reported Dead In First Explosion At Kabul Airport, With Children Among Fatalities

The explosion has been reported by Reuters as a ‘suicide attack’, who quoted a Taliban official.

John Kirby, Assistant to the Secretary of Defence for Public Affairs, took to Twitter to confirm the reports of an explosion. He said, ‘We can confirm that the explosion near the Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport has resulted in an unknown number of casualties. We will continue to update.’

President Joe Biden and other top US officials were seen arriving in the Situation Room and were briefed on the explosion in Kabul. They were pictured by CNN White House reporter Kevin Liptak arriving for a scheduled meeting on Afghanistan.

An eyewitness took to Twitter to warn people not to ‘go to Kabul airport now’. He detailed that there was a ‘heavy explosion in front of Abby Camp’ and that ‘shooting has started’. He reported that US troops used ‘6-8 gas bombs on people on east gate’ and that ‘lots of women got injured and burned’.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has noted that an ‘overwhelming majority’ of people are eligible to be evacuated from Kabul, but that the time remaining to get them out is ‘quite short’, reported Sky News.

A second explosion has since been reported having taken place near the Baron’s Hotel, where British and American troops had been processing evacuees. US officials have confirmed that some US personnel have been injured in the second attack, but it is unknown how evacuation efforts have been impacted by the two bombings.

It has been confirmed by a US official that the first attack was carried out by an ISIS suicide bomber, according to Politico. Sky News has reported that the suicide bombing took place in a ‘sewage canal’ where people had gathered in an attempt to reach the airport’s Abbey gate for processing.

If you’d like to help those who’ve been affected by the recent devastating events unfolding in Afghanistan, you can make a donation to the UN Refugee Agency United Kingdom here.