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In Pictures: Deadly explosions outside Kabul airport

Taliban official says at least 13 people were killed and several others wounded in the explosions outside the airport in the Afghan capital.

Smoke rises from explosion outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan [Wali Sabawoon/AP Photo]
Published On 26 Aug 2021

Two explosions went off outside Kabul’s airport, where thousands of people have flocked amid a huge evacuation effort as they try to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

A “complex attack” Thursday at the airport in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, where a enormous international airlift has been under way, caused a number of US and civilian casualties, the Pentagon said.

A Taliban official said at least 13 people were killed and several others wounded in the explosions.

The Emergency Hospital said on Twitter that at least 60 injured people were transferred to their facility so far.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said one blast occurred near the airport’s Abbey Gate and the other close to the nearby Baron Hotel. Two US officials said at least one of the explosions appeared to be from a suicide bombing.

“We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties,” Kirby said on Twitter. “We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate.”

Volunteers and medical staff bring an injured man for treatment after two powerful explosions. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
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Afghans struggle to reach the foreign forces to show their credentials to flee the country outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul. [Akhter Gulfam/EPA]
Medical and hospital staff carry an injured man out of a car for treatment after two blasts outside the airport in Kabul. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
A blast occurred outside the Abbey Gate and follows recent security warnings of attacks in advance of the 31 August deadline for US troop withdrawal. [Akhter Gulfam/EPA]
Medical and hospital staff bring an injured man on a stretcher for treatment after two blasts, which killed at least five and wounded a dozen, outside the airport in Kabul. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Foreign soldiers stand guard at a tower inside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul. [Akhter Gulfam/EPA]
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Smoke billows from the airport area after a blast outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul. [Akhter Gulfam/EPA]
Medical staff bring an injured man to a hospital in an ambulance after two powerful explosions, which killed at least six people, outside the airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
The city’s main Emergency Hospital said on Twitter that at least 60 injured people were transferred to their facility so far. [Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu/Getty Images]