Islamic State suicide bombers kill dozens at Kabul airport

AFP

Islamic State suicide bombers attacked crowds of people gathered on Thursday outside Kabul airport hoping to flee Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, killing dozens including 13 US troops, as President Joe Biden vowed to hunt down those responsible.

The Taliban said the two blasts killed between 13 and 20 people. A health official in the previous government said the toll could rise to 60.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which added more urgency and heartbreak to the frantic US-led campaign to airlift people out of Afghanistan.

The airport blasts came as the August 31 deadline looms for the United States to withdraw its troops, and for it and other Western countries to end a massive airlift that has already evacuated nearly 100,000 people.

With the crisis in Afghanistan rocking his presidency to the core, a clearly shaken Biden went before TV cameras to address the American people after the worst single-day death toll for the US military in Afghanistan since 2011.

He said the US soldiers who died in the airport blasts were heroes, and vowed to catch those behind the attack. "We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," he said.

Biden said the evacuation effort would proceed and end on schedule at the end of the month.

Asked by a reporter if he bore any responsibility for the death of the US service members killed on Thursday, Biden said: "I bear responsibility fundamentally for all that's happened of late."

The attack marked a deadly escalation of the drama unfolding at the airport. It is the only part of the country under foreign control following the Taliban's return to power on August 15, and huge crowds have massed in the hope of being evacuated.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that between 13 and 20 people were killed and 52 wounded in the twin blasts, while Kabul hospitals reported six dead and up to 90 wounded.

General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Central Command, initially said 12 US troops were killed. But another soldier died later, and the latest US injury toll is 18, the Central Command said.

McKenzie said an unspecified number of Afghan civilians were killed.

McKenzie said the blasts have been assessed as coming from Islamic State suicide bombers, and that the US airlift would continue despite the attack.

"ISIS will not deter us from accomplishing the mission," he said.

The United States expects more Islamic State attacks in Kabul and is prepared to retaliate, McKenzie told a news conference.

The Taliban, a rival of the Islamic State, condemned the blasts, and said they happened in an area under US military control.

AFP

'Total panic'

Graphic video shared on social media showed bodies lying semi-submerged in a canal adjacent to the airport, where thousands have gathered since the Taliban takeover of August 15 hoping for a flight out.

"When people heard the (first) explosion there was total panic," a man name Milad told AFP. "The Taliban then started firing in the air to disperse the crowd."

The US government and its allies had raised the alarm earlier in the day with a series of adviseries warning their citizens to avoid the airport.

After the blasts, images posted on social media showed men ferrying wounded people to safety in wheelbarrows.