“TOTAL PANIC”
At least two explosions went off outside Kabul’s airport on Thursday, hours after the United States and its allies warned of possible attacks by Islamic State on crowds gathered there trying to flee Afghanistan after the takeover by the Taliban.
The Taliban, whose members are guarding the perimeter outside the airport, are enemies of the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region.
The Taliban condemned the blasts and said the explosion happened in area under the control of the US military.
“The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the bombing targeting civilians at Kabul airport,” a statement released by the group’s spokesman on Twitter said.
“The explosion took place in an area where US forces are responsible for security.”
Wounded men in blood-soaked clothes were ferried away from the scene in wheelbarrows, while a boy clutched the arm of a man with a head injury, in images posted on social media.
“Bodies, flesh and people were thrown into a canal nearby,” Milad, who was at the scene of the first blast, told AFP.
“When people heard the explosion there was total panic. The Taliban then started firing in the air to disperse the crowd at the gate,” a second witness said.
“I saw a man rushing with an injured baby in his hands.”
The two devices were detonated as the sun started to set, killing at least six people and wounding many more, according to the Emergency Hospital in Kabul.
Reuters reported at least 13 deaths.
Thick smoke billowed into the sky as men, women and children rushed away from the scene.
The Pentagon said one explosion was at the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport, and at least one more blast hit the nearby Baron Hotel.
Shortly after, an AFP photographer saw several bodies arriving at a Kabul hospital, and more than a dozen injured.
Women with blood-stained faces and clothes wept as the wounded were taken into the clinic on stretchers.
Another witness, 26-year-old Akram Lubega, who works for a catering firm, said he heard the explosion and did not know what was happening.
“Of course we are all scared,” the Ugandan national said.
“Everyone is tense and the army is taking positions around the airport.”
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