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A Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Washington Post first reported the news.
The Defense Department has temporarily frozen military and civilian flights in an attempt to clear the tarmac of desperate civilians rushing to the airfield, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
Although Kirby could not confirm that an investigation was underway into civilian deaths linked to C-17 flights leaving the airport, he told reporters on Monday that he expected the department looks into the incident.
The Pentagon has so far deployed some 5,000 additional troops to Kabul to help secure the airport so that thousands of U.S. citizens, embassy staff and vulnerable Afghans can safely leave the country. Officials expected that by Monday the United States would have 3,000 troops on the ground at the airport; the rest would fly away over the next few days.
The United States resumed operations from the airport on Monday evening, allowing C-17s carrying Marines and soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to land in the country, according to Major General Hank Taylor, deputy director of the joint staff for regional operations and force management. .
Earlier today, US forces responded to “hostile threats” after gunfire erupted in two separate incidents, resulting in the deaths of two gunmen, Kirby confirmed. A US serviceman was injured in the incident, he said, but could not confirm the status of the individual on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, more than 600 Afghans crowded onto another C-17 – a number considered one of the most to have flown in the army’s massive cargo plane, Defense One reported.
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