UK embassy officials told Afghans to go to the Abbey Gate entrance of Kabul airport hours before Thursday's deadly suicide bombing at the site, the BBC has revealed.

       The British embassy instructed people to "use the Abbey Gate [near] to the Baron Hotel", even though an attack at the airport was deemed imminent by the US and UK.

       However, on Wednesday night, the day before the explosion, Britons were told to leave Kabul airport because of the "ongoing and high threat" of a terror attack.

       The Foreign Office updated its guidance, which stated: "The security situation in Afghanistan remains volatile. There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice."

       On the morning of Aug 26, the day of the suicide bombings, the Armed Forces minister James Heappey told the BBC: "There is now very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack and hence why the Foreign Office advice was changed last night."

       Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, also told MPs on a briefing call last Wednesday that interpreters and other vulnerable Afghans seeking evacuation should "explore another route" to safety.

       Yet emails seen by the BBC's Newsnight revealed that the official UK advice on the day of the attack was "confusing and conflicting", as described by an Afghan woman who worked for the British embassy in Kabul.

       One email, sent from the British embassy on the day of the attack, asked a former Afghan interpreter whether he was in the right place. It read: "Please advise that you are at the correct gate? Abbey Gate on Hawa on Shawasi Street."

       The unnamed former interpreter told the BBC he decided not to go to the airport because he didn't "feel safe as the situation was getting worse".

       He added: "It would be madness to go there and that saved my life. It was our own judgement that saved our lives."

       Almost 200 people were killed in the suicide bomb blast outside Kabul airport, including two UK citizens and thirteen US service personnel.

       A second explosion went off near the Baron Hotel, where many people, including Afghans, Britons and Americans, were told to gather before heading to the airport for evacuation.

       The UK Government said it was investigating the emails.