by Caitlin Doornbos at Stars and Stripes
Twelve U.S. service members were killed and 15 others were wounded Thursday in a terrorist attack at the airport in Kabul, where U.S. and coalition forces have been evacuating tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans since the Taliban took control of the country nearly two weeks ago, said Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander in the region.
Suicide bombers launched two attacks as the troops who were killed and injured screened evacuees at an airport gate, said McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command.
Defense officials did not provide the service branches of the troops killed, though The Associated Press reported 11 Marines and one Navy corpsman had died from the attack.
The service members killed were the first combat-related deaths to happen in Afghanistan since Feb. 8, 2020, when Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rodriguez was killed in Nangarhar province, according to the Army. With 12 killed, it is also among the deadliest attacks on U.S. troops since the war in Afghanistan began nearly 20 years ago, Reuters reported.
The U.S. is working to determine who initiated the attacks, McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon, though the Taliban is not suspected because “they have a practical reason for wanting us to get out of here.”
The Islamic State took credit for the attacks, according the Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with the terrorist group. Pentagon officials had been warning of possible threats by ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based branch of the Islamic State.
The first bomb exploded near the airport’s Abbey Gate and caused “a number of U.S. and civilian casualties,” chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted Thursday. The gate is one of three entrances to the airport where crowds of people had been gathered since last week to vie for evacuation flights.
Troops screen evacuees face-to-face at the gates, McKenzie said.
“At the screening points, you got to get very up close and personal to the people that you’re bringing out, there’s no way to do that safely from a distance,” he said. “We should all just bear in mind we’ve been doing it for well over a week we brought 104,000 people out.”
The second explosion happened shortly after the first one “at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate,” Kirby said.
Kirby said Afghans were also hurt and killed in the attacks, though he did not know how many.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attacks in a tweet Thursday afternoon.
“The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the bombing of civilians at Kabul airport, which took place in an area where U.S. forces are responsible for security,” Mujahid wrote in a tweet translated from Arabic. “The Islamic Emirate is paying close attention to the security and protection of its people, and evil circles will be strictly stopped.”
Images of bloodied Afghan men walking or being carted in wheel barrows away from the scene of the blast have been circulating on Twitter.
Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated approximately 95,700 Americans and Afghans who helped the U.S. during its nearly two decades in Afghanistan. The U.S. sent thousands of troops to Kabul to assist with the evacuations and provide security at the airport. There were 5,800 U.S. troops at the airport, though 400 were transported out of Kabul on Wednesday.
The attacks come after U.S. evacuation numbers slowed down after three consecutive days of exceeding its goal of moving 5,000-9,000 people per day from Kabul. Military aircraft lifted 5,100 people out of the country on Thursday, the White House said, compared to 11,200 people Tuesday, 12,700 on Monday, and 11,000 on Sunday.
The evacuation mission will continue despite the attacks…
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