An explosion caused several casualties just outside the Kabul airport less than a day after the U.S. Embassy warned U.S. citizens to get out of the area. Gunfire and at least one other explosion was reported in the Afghan capital.
The main hospital in Kabul said it has received more than 30 patients. Six of them were dead on arrival, the hospital — run by an Italian nongovernmental organization — said in a tweet. )
The explosion at the Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport was “a complex attack that resulted in a number of U.S. and civilian casualties,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a tweet.
He added at another explosion took place near the Baron Hotel, located nearby.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed reports of an explosion outside of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday.
“Casualties are unclear at this time,” he wrote in a tweet. “We will provide additional details when we can.”
The White House, State Department, Pentagon and U.S. Embassy in Kabul have all been warning of heightened threat from ISIS-K militants in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to the ongoing evacuation effort there.
President Biden was in the White House Situation Room with his top national security aides discussing the situation in Afghanistan when the explosion at the airport happened. Biden was briefed on the explosion, a White House official told NPR’s Franco Ordoñez.
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