Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport on Thursday, killing at least 60 Afghans and 12 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said.
The IS branch, known as The Islamic State-Khorasan Province after a name for the region from antiquity, said in its claim of responsibility that it targeted American troops and their Afghan allies.
The statement carried a photo of what the militant group said was the bomber who carried out the attack. The image shows the alleged attacker standing with the explosive belt in front of the black IS flag with a black cloth covering his face, only his eyes showing.
The statement made no mention of a second suicide bomber or gunmen. The claim could not be independently verified.
IS also said the bomber managed to get past Taliban security checkpoints to come within 5 meters (yards) of a gathering of U.S. soldiers, translators and collaborators before detonating his explosives. It said Taliban were also among the casualties. The extremist IS group has battled the Taliban, which it views as traitorous for agreeing to a peace deal with the United States.
The statement also said the bomber got around U.S. security measures and that the camp that was targeted was where U.S. forces were gathering paperwork for those who’ve worked with the military.”We’ve been in the airport, and back out of the airport; the whole thing’s a mess,” he added.
Farthing is trying to get staff of his Nowzad charity out of Afghanistan, along with the group’s rescued animals. They have been stuck outside Kabul’s airport as they try to get a flight out.
He spoke as reports emerged of two suicide bombings outside the airport that killed at least 13 people and wounded another 15. U.S. officials meanwhile have said that American personnel were wounded in the blast, without elaborating.
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