Terror attack near Kabul airport: more than 60 killed, countries halt evacuations

Islamic State may be behind the attack; the Taliban condemned it.

A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd near the gate of Kabul airport in Afghanistan on August 26, and less than an hour later a second explosion went off, and three hours after that a third. At least 60 people were killed in the attack, and a number of countries have halted evacuations from Afghanistan due to the situation.

We explain the situation at the airport, who is responsible, and how countries have reacted to the attack.

Explosions at the airport gate

At about 17:00 Kyiv time, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in Kabul at the gate of the airport, which is controlled by US troops and where thousands of people are waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan.

Within an hour, information emerged about a second explosion. As Sky News reported, sources at the UK Ministry of Defence said the second explosion could have been caused by a car loaded with explosives.

The terrorist organization Islamic State, a splinter of the Taliban, could be behind the attack. IS has been at ideological odds with the Taliban since its founding in 2014. Analysts believe that its goal in this case is to create chaos at the airport.

At least 60 people were killed and another 140 were wounded in the two explosions; the information is being updated continuously. Among the dead are at least ten Americans. At about 21:20 Kyiv time, information emerged about a third explosion.

A few hours before the explosion, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said there was a danger of a terrorist attack on Kabul airport.

Global reaction

As a result of the attack, some countries temporarily halted the evacuation of their citizens and residents of Afghanistan. Among them were Canada and Norway.

Britain, by contrast, will continue the evacuation of people. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the attack "barbaric" but said the evacuation would continue.

Germany, meanwhile, said it had managed to fully complete its evacuation. More than 5,300 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, including about 500 German citizens.

Oleg Nikolenko, spokesman for Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba instructed the Ukrainian embassy in Tajikistan to keep the situation related to the explosion at Kabul international airport under special control. No information about injured Ukrainians has been received.

For its part, the Taliban condemned the attack. According to them, the attack was carried out on territory controlled by US troops.