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The United States Department of Defense has confirmed an explosion outside Kabul Airport late on Thursday afternoon. The extent of damages and casualties however is yet to be ascertained.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirkby took to Twitter to inform about the explosion and said that they were waiting for additional details. "We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can," tweeted Kirby.
The Pentagon Press Secretary has clarified that the explosion took place at Abbey Gate of the airport and has resulted in a number of US and civilian casualties.
Giving more details on the incident, he tweeted, "We can confirm that explosion at Abbey Gate was result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate."
A suspected suicide bomb exploded outside Kabul airport, killing at least 13 people including children, a Taliban official was quoted by Reuters news
agency as saying after the United States and allies urged Afghans to leave the area because of a threat by Islamic State.
A report by the Reuters news agency stated that quoting authorities of Emergency hospital in Kabul saying that around 60 wounded people have arrived so far from airport explosions.
The development comes as thousands of people continue to flee Afghanistan following takeover by the Taliban. Western intelligence had warned of possible terror attack in the wake of the massive airlift of people from the crisis-torn nation.
Earlier today, the United States confirmed that it would continue to evacuate as many people as it can until the end of the mission timeline, while several countries like France and Netherlands declared that they would stop evacuation exercise days ahead of the August 31 deadline set by the Taliban.
