2 UK nationals among dead in Kabul airport attack: foreign secretary
A handout picture released by the British Ministry of Defence shows a British soldier (left) and a member of the US Armed Forces in conversation while working at Kabul Airport on August 22, 2021.
Two British nationals and a child of another British national were killed in Thursday's attack at the Kabul airport, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday.
"I was deeply saddened to learn that two British nationals and the child of another British national were killed by yesterday's terror attack, with two more injured," Raab said in a statement.
Two suicide bomb attacks rocked the Kabul airport in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing at least 103 people, including 13 US service members, and injuring 158 others.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, saying it was targeting "translators and collaborators with the American army".
"These were innocent people and it is a tragedy that as they sought to bring their loved ones to safety in the UK they were murdered by cowardly terrorists," the foreign secretary said.
Britain's evacuation operation at the Kabul airport has "a matter of hours" left and no more people will be called forward, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Friday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that around 15,000 people – the "overwhelming majority" of those eligible to come to Britain – had been evacuated by British troops. These include Afghans who supported British troops in Afghanistan and British passport holders.
Only four days remain for US-led forces to evacuate from Afghanistan, after Johnson and leaders of other US allies failed to persuade US President Joe Biden to extend the August 31 evacuation deadline during a Group of Seven virtual summit earlier this week.
