The explosion at Kabul Airport claimed at least 13 victims, including children – PRAVDA.sk

At least 13 victims, including children, claimed a Thursday blast at the Kabul airport gate, Reuters reported, citing a Taliban spokesman. According to the spokesman, many people were injured, including several members of the Taliban movement. According to media reports, several American soldiers are among the wounded.

TASR

26.08.2021 16:57, updated: 17:34

Smoke rises after the explosion at Kabul Airport on August 26, 2021.

According to unnamed US government officials, it was probably a suicide bombing, Sky News and CNN reported. However, it informed the Turkish Ministry of Defense about two explosions, while the French ambassador warns of a possible second explosion.

According to Sky News, several, probably as many as three American soldiers suffered injuries, CNN also writes about the wounded Afghans. United States President Joe Biden was immediately informed of the details of the incident, a White House official said.

However, planes continue to fly from the airport, informs Sky News. According to the British daily The Guardian, gunfire was heard after the explosion.

The explosion was confirmed on Twitter by US Department of Defense (Pentagon) spokesman John Kirby, who will announce the details when they are available.

Washington previously warned that evacuation operations threaten the risk of a terrorist attack by the extremist organization Islamic State (IS).

They fired several shots at an Italian military plane on departure from Kabul

Several bullets were fired at an Italian military plane on Thursday during a flight from Kabul. However, the machine was not damaged. An unnamed source from the Italian Ministry of Defense said this, Reuters reports.

An Italian journalist traveling by the said plane told Sky TG24 that almost 100 Afghan civilians were traveling on the plane. According to him, the machine came under fire a few minutes after launch.

However, the Italian secret service does not believe that the shot itself should have been the target of the shots. According to her, the shots were supposed to disperse the crowd at the airport, reports Reuters.

The high risk of a terrorist attack at the local airport is pointed out by several actors. However, the Italian military plane is probably the first to come under fire since the beginning of the evacuation flights, according to Sky News.

The evacuations from Kabul, or its announcement, have recently been completed – for security reasons – by several countries. The termination of such flights has so far been announced by Canada, Denmark, Belgium and Poland. Spain and France also plan to complete the evacuation from Afghanistan by Friday.

On August 15, the Afghan militant Taliban occupied the capital Kabul and took power in Afghanistan. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been trying to get abroad from this Central Asian country. Western countries have begun evacuation flights for their diplomats, citizens and Afghan collaborators, urgently trying to evacuate people from the country before 31 August.