The Islamic State claimed responsibility for two explosions that killed 13 U.S. troops and dozens of others and injured another 18 service members outside the Kabul airport during the day on Thursday.
ISIS said it killed and injured approximately 160 people between the two attacks and published a photograph of a purported suicide bomber in a report put out by its Amaq news agency, according to Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group. She later shared an official claim of the attack by ISIS from its Khorasan Province.
U.S. Central Command head Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie confirmed earlier Thursday the deaths of 11 Marines and a Navy medic from the blasts, which were set off at the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport and near Baron Hotel about 200 yards from the airport gate.
A Central Command spokesperson said Thursday evening an additional service member died since McKenzie’s remarks. The toll of injured service members was also upped to 18 from 15, said the spokesperson, who added that those injured are “in the process of being aeromedically evacuated from Afghanistan on specially equipped C-17s with embarked surgical units.”
The blasts followed warnings by U.S. officials and allies of the threat of an imminent attack at the airport. The State Department told U.S. citizens at the airport’s gates to leave “immediately” due to security threats, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office had warned of a “high threat of terrorist attack.”
12 US SERVICE MEMBERS KILLED IN TWIN EXPLOSIONS OUTSIDE KABUL AIRPORT
More explosions in Kabul were reported around midnight local time, after which a Taliban spokesman claimed they were controlled blasts performed by the U.S. military.
#BREAKING Another huge blast heard in Kabul: AFP staff
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 26, 2021
“Several explosions were heard in Kabul in the evening,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “The blasts were carried out by US forces inside Kabul airport to destroy their belongings. Kabul residents are not worried.”
The fatal explosions at the airport Thursday escalated an already extremely volatile security situation as the United States and allies continue evacuations of remaining U.S. citizens and Afghans eligible for special immigrant visas ahead of the Biden administration’s Tuesday withdrawal deadline for U.S. military forces.
Although McKenzie said Thursday that the U.S. “will go after” the perpetrators of the attack, he did not indicate a substantive change in the military’s mission in Afghanistan.
“We continue to focus on the protection of our forces and the evacuees as the evacuation continues,” McKenzie said during a briefing Thursday. “Let me be clear, while we are saddened by the loss of life of U.S. and Afghans, we continue to execute the mission.”
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President Joe Biden, who faces mounting calls from Republican lawmakers to resign from office over the situation in Afghanistan, addressed the nation Thursday evening and lamented the deaths of U.S. service members while continuing to stand by his withdrawal strategy. Like McKenzie, Biden vowed to target the attackers.
“We’re outraged, as well as heartbroken,” he said during the speech. “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.”
