Taliban say Civilian death toll in Kabul blasts hits 72

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Taliban say Civilian death toll in Kabul blasts hits 72

Aug 27, 2021: According to the Taliban, multiple bomb blasts outside Kabul airport have killed at least 72 civilians. A health official and a Taliban official say the toll of Afghans killed has risen to 72, including 28 Taliban members.

The US military said 13 of its service members have been killed in the Kabul airport carnage.

Thursday’s bombings also killed at least 13 U.S. troops, the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the August 2011 attack on a Chinook helicopter killed 30 soldiers.

US troops are helping to evacuate Afghans who are desperate to escape the Taliban regime. The Islamic State in Afghanistan (ISIS) in Afghanistan, Islamic State in Khorasan Province, and ISISK (or ISKP) claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack, saying its suicide bombers targeted “translators and colleagues with the US military.”

US President Joe Biden has vowed to retaliate against the attack in Kabul, confirming that the bombings were carried out by ISIS.

“We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests in our people with every measure at my command.”

It was the worst single-day loss for American troops in Afghanistan since the August 2011 attack on a Chinook helicopter that killed 30 service members.

Meanwhile on the evacuation front, the Albanian government says the first group of Afghans deported from Afghanistan has arrived in the Albanian capital, Tirana.

A civilian plane of the Egyptian Al Masria Universal Airlines was seen landing at the international airport with men, women, children and the elderly.

Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhaka and US Ambassador to Tarana Yuri Kim were present at the airport. The Afghans were first taken to military tents, where they underwent rapid virus tests, other medical and psychological assistance, and registration before being transferred to hotels.

The government has said Afghans can stay for at least a year while moving to the United States with special visa applications for a final settlement.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday that his country had already completed evacuation operations in Afghanistan. The country withdrew its troops from Kabul just before Thursday’s bombings, after which it received “very clear information” about the ensuing attack.

“We were able to secure the departure of the rest of the Australian personnel last night, not long before the horrific events that took place last night,” Morrison told a news conference.

He also said that US and British forces had helped evacuate about 44,100 people in Australia over nine days, including 3,200 Australian and Afghan nationals with Australian visas.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide has announced that her country can no longer assist in evacuating remaining citizens from Afghanistan’s capital. Norway had earlier agreed to provide airlift support for Afghan evacuees from the Gulf region to follow-on points in Europe, according to a US State Department statement.

According to a report, the staff of the United Kingdom’s embassy in Kabul, who hurriedly evacuated following the Taliban takeover on August 15, have left documents with the contact details of Afghans working for them, as well as other identifying information such as job applications of Afghans, according to an exclusive report by The Times newspaper in the UK.

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