Two large explosions ripped through crowds outside Kabul International Airport on Thursday, killing at least 100 Afghanis and 13 US troops.
The Pentagon said a suicide bomber detonated an explosion that tore through a crowd waiting at an entrance to the Kabul International Airport, where thousands of people have gathered every day since the city fell to the Taliban, desperate to board flights out of the country.
The total death toll stood at 100 people as of Thursday evening, with 150 more wounded, an Afghan official said.
At least 28 members of the Taliban are among the people killed in explosions overnight outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, a Taliban official told Reuters news agency. "We have lost more people than the Americans," said the official, adding that there was no reason to extend the August 31 deadline for foreign forces to leave the country.
At the remarks at the White House, President Biden said the bombings were the work of fighters from the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, known as ISIS Khorasan, or ISIS-K. President. Biden mourned the loss of the U.S. service members, while vowing to retaliate against those who orchestrated the attacks and continue the process of withdrawing from the capital.
"To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," Mr. Biden said. "Our mission will go on. America will not be intimidated."
A Taliban spokesman condemned the "gruesome incident" and said the group "will take every step to bring the culprits to justice."
ISIS-K claims responsibility for attacks
The Islamic State Khorasan Thursday claimed responsibility for the attacks outside the Kabul airport on Thursday, according to a statement from the group's Amaq News Agency cited in multiple reports.
The ISIS said in its statement that a suicide bomber "managed to reach a large gathering of translators and collaborators with the American army at 'Baran Camp' near Kabul Airport and detonated his explosive belt among them, killing about 60 people and wounding more than 100 others, including Taliban fighters," according to Reuters.
The Associated Press reports that the statement carried a photo of what the militant group said was the bomber who carried out the attack. The image shows the alleged attacker standing with the explosive belt in front of the black IS flag with a black cloth covering his face, only his eyes showing.
The ISIS also said the bomber managed to get past Taliban security checkpoints to come within 5 meters of a gathering of US soldiers, translators and collaborators before detonating his explosives. It said Taliban were also among the casualties.
Karzai calls Islamic State 'Tool' of U.S.
Tellingly, on April 19, 2017, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the Islamic State a "tool" of the United States. "I consider Daesh their tool," Karzai told VOA's Afghan service in an exclusive interview in Kabul. "I do not differentiate at all between Daesh and America."
On November 10, 2017, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Karzai said the US government had allowed ISIL, also known as ISIS, to flourish inside Afghanistan. "In my view under the full presence, surveillance, military, political, intelligence, Daesh [ISIL] has emerged," he said.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
