US presses on with evacuation from Afghanistan after deadly Kabul terrorist
“It was as if someone pulled the ground from under my feet; for a moment I thought my eardrums were blasted and I lost my sense of hearing,” said one man who had been in the queue near the airport’s Abbey Gate in the hope of getting onto one of the flights leaving the country during the final days of the airlift.
“I saw bodies and body parts flying in the air like a tornado taking plastic bags … into the air. I saw bodies, body parts, elderly and injured men, women and children scattered in the blast site,” the man, a former employee of an international development group with a US special immigrant visa, told Reuters news agency.
“It is not possible to see doomsday in this life, but today I saw doomsday, I witnessed it with my own eyes,” he said.
According to the Pentagon, 13 US service members were killed and 18 others injured in the attack.
Ten Marines were among the troops killed and several more were wounded, Marine spokesman Maj. Jim Stenger said. The identities and units of those killed won’t be announced until after relatives are notified, he added.
Thousands of Afghans had been gathering at the airport’s gates in recent days in hopes of being evacuated. Footage posted to social media on Thursday after the explosions showed chaotic scenes of crowds trying to help the wounded amid bodies on the ground. Photos showed bloodied people being transported away from the scene in wheelbarrows.
Video shot by local Afghan journalists in the wake of the blasts, appears to show people continuing to gather near the airport perimeter despite the enormous personal risk.
Speaking from the White House, US President Joe Biden said evacuation efforts would not be stopped by the attack, and that he had ordered US military commanders to develop plans to strike “ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities.”
About 7,500 people were evacuated from Kabul over the course of 12 hours between 3 a.m. and 3. p.m. ET on Thursday, the White House said. It’s unclear how many of those evacuations took place after the attack.
Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said US troops were continuing the evacuation mission at “best speed,” noting there were still about 1,000 American citizens in Afghanistan.
But he said the focus right now was on the “extremely active threat streams against the airfield.”
McKenzie described the threats from ISIS as “imminent,” raging from rocket attacks to “vehicle-borne” suicide attacks in addition to “walk-in” suicide attackers like the assault on Thursday.
He said the US military is using attack helicopters and other manned and unmanned aircraft to defend the airport in Kabul, as well as sharing some intelligence with the Taliban for security purposes.
“They…
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