Pentagon Press Secretary: Explosion at Kabul Airport ‘Resulted in U.S. and Civilian Casualties’

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed Thursday an explosion at the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan resulted in several U.S. and civilian casualties.

“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. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update,” Kirby said in a Twitter post:

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. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update.

— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021

AFP reported Wednesday that U.S. officials had warned people trying to get into the Kabul airport to leave the area, and Britain and Australia noted the “high threat” of a terrorist attack:

A flurry of near-identical travel warnings from London, Canberra and Washington late Wednesday urged people gathered in the area to vacate and move to a safe location. For days thousands of fearful Afghans and foreigners have surrounded Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport, in the hope of fleeing Taliban rule.

Meanwhile, European allies on Thursday stopped evacuations because of the suicide terror threats at the Kabul airport, according to the New York Times.

“Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark all said that they would no longer be able to facilitate airlifts from the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which has both civilian and military sections,” the article read.

A Senate aide said Wednesday that 4,100 Americans were still stranded in Afghanistan, many of them “not in or around Kabul,” according to CNN.

“About 4,400 Americans have been extracted in President Joe Biden’s deadly evacuation, ‘but the remaining 4,100 will be more challenging, the source said,’ before the Taliban-enforced deadline in five days. The State Department has denied 4,100 is the exact number stranded,” Breitbart News reported.