At least 60 people were killed in twin suicide bombings outside the Kabul airport on Thursday evening. Thousands have flocked the airport as they try to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The attack came just hours after some Western governments warned of a probable terror strike near the Kabul airport and requested people to stay away from the area. The attack also killed 13 US troops leaving other American military wounded. Reacting on the attack, US President Joe Biden vowed to hunt down those responsible.
“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm notice, we will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
ISIS struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport in a suicide bomb attack on Thursday, killing scores of civilians and at least 13 U.S. troops, disrupting the airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans desperate to flee. Hours after the twin blasts, a third explosion was reported by news agency AFP while unconfirmed reports said there may have been more.
US president Joe Biden, in his White House address following the Kabul attacks, asked for a moment of silence to honour the fallen service members, bowing his head, and ordered US flags to be flown half-staff across the country. “We have some reason to believe we know who they are… not certain,” Biden said while referring to the bombers and gunmen involved in the attack.