Busloads of European and Afghan evacuees were harassed by the Taliban and blocked from entering the airport in Kabul Wednesday, according to a government document obtained by Yahoo News.
According to the document, just three of seven buses that had been scheduled to drop off evacuees at Hamid Karzai International Airport were allowed into the airfield on Wednesday after being forced to wait outside for 12 hours. Earlier in the day one of the buses, carrying 21 Bulgarian evacuees, was stopped by Taliban forces, who began taking passengers off the bus and “shooting into the air” at a roundabout at or near the airport’s commercial entrance.
Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, confirmed the attacks at a press briefing Thursday, telling reporters that a suicide bomb exploded outside one of the main gates at the airport, followed by another bomb in the vicinity of the Baron Hotel, which is near the airport and is frequented by Americans in Kabul. He said that at least 15 other U.S. service members were injured in the attacks, and that a number of Afghan civilians were also killed or wounded.
An Afghan official told Associated Press that at least 60 Afghans were killed and 143 others were injured in the attacks. U.S. officials suspect that Islamic State Khorasan , an Afghanistan and Pakistan affiliate of the ISIS terrorist group and an enemy of the Taliban, is responsible for the attacks.The airport has been the site of an operation by the U.S. military to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans, at-risk Afghans and citizens of allied nations out of Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country less than two weeks ago. U.S.
“Let me be clear: While we’re saddened by the loss of life, both U.S. and Afghan, we’re continuing to execute the mission,” he said.
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