Taliban reaction that exacerbated panic after Kabul airport bombing

As the sun began to set, a first explosion occurred at Abbey Gate, one of the access gates to the airport. Shortly after, another explosive charge exploded “At or near the Hotel Baron” within walking distance, the Pentagon explained.

“When people heard the explosion, there was total panic. The Taliban started shooting in the air to disperse the people. “he said to AFP witness to the event, Milad.

“There were many deaths and injuries,” added this man who, in confusion, he lost the documents with which he hoped to board a plane with his wife and three children.

“I never want to go (to the airport) again. Death to America, their evacuation and their visas, ”he assured.

The wounded “They cannot speak, many are terrified, their eyes lost, their gaze blank”, Alberto Zanin, the medical coordinator of the hospital managed by ONE Emergency Italian, explained on Twitter.

Although the Taliban and the Islamic State are radical Sunnis, they are hostile to each other. When the United States and the Taliban reached an agreement in 2020 that outlined the lines for the withdrawal of foreign troops, IS accused them of abandoning the jihadist cause.

The attacks triggered messages of international condemnation and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called a meeting of permanent members of the Security Council to discuss the chaotic situation in Afghanistan following the Kabul bombing.

In the Afghan capital, the pace of evacuations has started to slow, raising fears that many Afghans who collaborated with Westerners or the previous government cannot leave the country.

Many Afghans, especially in urban areas, They do not believe the promises of the Taliban and fear a regime just as brutal and fundamentalist as that established between 1996 and 2001.

The double suicide bombing claimed by the jihadist group EI killed dozens, including 13 American soldiers, at Kabul airport, aggravating panic among the thousands of Afghans trying to flee the Taliban-controlled country before the end of the evacuations on August 31.

The outcome of the double explosion is still unclear. The Pentagon has reported 13 US soldiers killed and 18 injured, the biggest loss to the U.S. military in Afghanistan since 2011.

This friday morning the total death toll was already over a hundredwhile an even higher number of injuries of varying severity have been treated in overcrowded health centers.

The jihadist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which exacerbates the dramatic situation at Kabul airport, plunged into an evacuation operation against the clock to get thousands of foreigners and Afghans out of the country under Western protection.

Videos posted on social media reflected the panic and desolation in the place: dozens of victims, dead or injured, lying in the dirty waters of a drainage canal, surrounded by overwhelming rescuers. Men, women and children ran in all directions fleeing the explosions.

Hundreds of people gathered again at the airport in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul in search of an exit from the country despite the double attack perpetrated by ISIS on Thursday, which left around 73 dead and around 140 injured.

According to the Afghan portal Ariana, the door of the abbey, the epicenter of the attacks, remains empty of people, who rather concentrated near the airport installation, according to the images captured by the channel News from Tolo.

General Frank McKenzie, head of the United States Central Command, has confirmed in recent hours that US soldiers in Kabul remain on high alert for fear of further attacks that could be carried out with car bombs or rockets.

Besides, General McKenzie who shared intelligence with the Taliban and felt that “they had foiled some attacks.”

(With AFP and Europa Press information)

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