U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed to "hunt down" those responsible for a terror attack outside Kabul Airport which has killed at least 13 American military personnel.
In total at least 80 people are known to have died in attacks yesterday.
The blasts took place around the outside of the airport at the Abbey Gate and the Barons Hotel where thousands are waiting to be evacuated.
Addressing the American public amid heavy criticism of his decision to withdraw from the country, Biden said: “Those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America, know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay".
He said the attack, carried out by the terror group Isis-K which is a rival to the Taliban in the region, will not deter them from rescuing US citizens and Afghans who worked for them during the 20-year occupation.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson has similarly vowed to continue British rescue efforts in the country despite the attack. He said the evacuation effort would continue "until the very last moment".
Read our Kabul explosion live blog for the latest updates...
Joseph Gamp 6 minutes ago
WITNESS STANDING CLOSE TO SUICIDE BOMBER RECALLS MOMENT EXPLOSIVES WERE DETONATED
Zubair, a 24 year-old civil engineer, said he was close to a suicide bomber who detonated explosives.
“Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people – men, women and children – being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals,” he told Reuters.
Joseph Gamp 16 minutes ago
FORMER BRIT ARMY CHIEF BRANDS US SHARING OF INTELLIGENCE WITH TALIBAN 'A DANGEROUS GAME'
A former head of the British army has called the US sharing of intelligence with the Taliban about people trying to flee Afghanistan a "dangerous game".
General Lord Richard Dannatt said: "I think it is a dangerous game. It's a matter where expediency comes in. I think it's a case of 'my enemy's enemy is my friend'.
"We are in many dimensions of least-worst situations. We do worry that information has been passed about those who we were trying to get out, who we failed to get out, that the Taliban do know who they are and this places them under great threat."
The comment follows reports that the United States is sharing biometric information with the Taliban to aid its evacuation efforts as they withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of the August 31 deadline.
Joseph Gamp 26 minutes ago
IN PICTURES: BLASTS ROCK KABUL AIRPORT, AT LEAST 85 DEAD
At least 85 people, including 13 US military personnel, have been killed following yesterday's twin bomb attacks at Kabul airport.
Mr Wallace branded the bombings "a cowardly, callous and pointless attack" targeting people trying to flee the country.
No Brits were killed, but the Defence Sec said the threat of another attack will only increase as the military presence winds up.
It comes after at least 85 people were killed in suicide blasts yesterday Credit: AP
Pen, 25 members of staff and almost 200 animals were 300 metres inside the airport's perimeter when the Taliban turned them back Credit: Reuters
Joseph Gamp 30 minutes ago
NO BRITS KILLED IN TWIN BOMB ATTACKS AT KABUL AIRPORT
No Brits were killed, but the Defence Secretary said the threat of another attack will only increase as the military presence winds up.
More than 13,000 people have been evacuated in two weeks under the British military's Operation Pitting.
It included 8,000 Afghans under the ARAP scheme who served as interpreters and other workers for British troops during the conflict.
Joseph Gamp 40 minutes ago
'I DON'T KNOW WHAT HIS CHANCES ARE'
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted in an interview on Good Morning Britain today that the chances of trapped former serviceman Pen Farthing making it out on an RAF plane are slim.
"If he makes his way and we can find him, we will try and put him on a flight," he said.
"I don't know what chances are going to be right now for Pen."
Joseph Gamp 46 minutes ago
BORIS JOHNSON: EVACUATIONS WILL CONTINUE FOLLOWING 'BARBARIC TERRORIST ATTACK'
After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting on Thursday, Mr Johnson said: “I can confirm that there’s been a barbaric terrorist attack, what looks like a series of attacks, in Kabul, on the airport, on the crowds at the airport, in which members of the US military, very sadly have lost their lives and many Afghan casualties as well.”
The PM told reporters in Downing Street that the evacuation programme would work “flat out” according to “the timetable we’ve got”.
“That’s what we’re going to do because the overwhelming majority of those who are eligible have now been extracted from Afghanistan,” he added.
Joseph Gamp 56 minutes ago
WATCH: FOOTAGE SHOWS MOMENT OF EXPLOSION OUTSIDE KABUL AIRPORT
Video : Right now the situation at the #KabulAiport.
After two deadly explosion yesterday. #Kabul #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/tc6bJekAkQ
— Abdulhaq Omeri (@AbdulhaqOmeri) August 27, 2021
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:40
NEARLY 100,000 WESTERNERS HAVE BEEN EVACUATED FROM AFGHANISTAN
The US will press on with evacuations despite the threat of further attacks, with it said there are around 1,000 US citizens still in Afghanistan.
The pace of evacuation flights had accelerated on Friday and American passport holders had been allowed to enter the airport compound, said a Western security official stationed inside the airport.
In the past 12 days, Western countries have evacuated nearly 100,000 people.
But they acknowledge that thousands will be left behind when the last U.S. troops leave at the end of the month.
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:37
DEFENCE SECRETARY SAYS BRITAIN 'WILL HONOUR ITS DEBT' BY DOING WHAT IT CAN TO EVACUATE PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN
This morning Mr Wallace vowed: "We will continue to honour our debt to all those who have not yet been able to leave Afghanistan.
"We will do all that we can to ensure they reach safety."
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:30
PEN FARTHING AND HIS 200 RESCUE DOGS TRAPPED IN AFGHANISTAN WITH TALIBAN AFTER UK SHUTS KABUL AIRPORT GATES
PEN Farthing is TRAPPED in Afghanistan with the Taliban after it was announced the gates of Kabul's airport have been sealed.
The ex Commando, who has been battling to evacuate his staff and almost 200 rescue animals, was forced to turn away from an evacuation flight yesterday.
He was told President Joe Biden has "changed policy" on who can leave - moments before suicide bombers murdered at least 103 people, including 13 US forces personnel.
And following the horrific blasts, the Ministry of Defence has announced this morning that no one else will be called for evacuation.
The last few hours of the rescue mission will focus on airlifting Brits and Afghans already processed and waiting inside the airfield. Troops and diplomats will be the last to go.
Read more here.
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:22
WITNESS STANDING CLOSE TO SUICIDE BOMBER RECALLS MOMENT EXPLOSIVES WERE DETONATED
Zubair, a 24 year-old civil engineer, said he was close to a suicide bomber who detonated explosives.
"Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people – men, women and children – being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals," he told Reuters.
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:20
WHAT IS HAPPENING AT KABUL AIRPORT?
Two explosions rocked the airport in Afghanistan just hours before the evacuation deadline.
Thousands of people have gathered at the airport over the past 12 days hoping to be evacuated after the Taliban seized power.
At least 12 US service members were killed in the bombings, including 11 marines and one Navy medic, while 15 were injured, the Pentagon said.
Other blasts were heard in Kabul hours after the earlier two.
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:10
BRITAIN WILL COMPLETE EVACUATIONS 'IN A MATTER OF HOURS' SAYS DEFENCE SECRETARY
Britain says plans to complete its airlifts out of Afghanistan "in a matter of hours" as the frenzied evacuation effort out of Kabul airport draws to a close.
"We will process those people that we have brought with us, the 1,000 people approximately inside the airfield now," British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News.
"And we will seek a way to continue to find a few people in the crowd, where we can, but overall the main processing has now closed and we have a matter of hours."
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:08
VIDEO FOOTAGE SHOWS CORPSES IN CANAL RUNNING ALONG AIRPORT PARAMETER
Video taken after the attack showed corpses in a waste water canal by the airport fence, some being fished out and laid in heaps while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.
"I saw bodies and body parts flying in the air like a tornado blowing plastic bags," said one Afghan witness.
"That little water flowing in the sewage canal had turned into blood."
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:06
DEFENCE SECRETARY WARNS THREAT OF ATTACKS WILL INCREASE AS FOREIGN FORCES DEPART
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the threat of attacks by Isis-K, the affiliate of the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan, around Kabul airport will increase as foreign forces depart.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I am concerned. Isis have an intent, they have the capability, should they wish to do so, to deploy more of these types of attacks.
"I'm absolutely concerned that, until we've gone, there's an absolute threat to our forces, and even after we've gone there's a threat to the Afghan people from Isis."
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:02
OFFICIAL CONFIRMS 72 AFGHANS DEAD FOLLOWING TWIN BLAST ATTACK
A health official and a Taliban official said the toll of Afghans killed had risen to 72, including 28 Taliban members.
However a Taliban spokesman later denied that any of their fighters guarding the airport perimeter had been killed.
The US military said 13 of its service members were killed.
Joseph Gamp Today, 09:00
AT LEAST 85 PEOPLE DEAD INCLUDING 13 US MARINES
Twin suicide bombs ripped through crowds outside Kabul airport on Thursday, killing at least 85 people including 13 US troops and deepening panic in the final days of an already frenzied evacuation effort from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The bombings, claimed by the Islamic State group, left scenes of carnage outside the airport where thousands of Afghans desperate to flee their country had massed.
They had swarmed around the airport despite a flurry of foreign government warnings -- made just hours before -- that a major terror attack was imminent.
Joseph Gamp Today, 08:45
HORROR SCENES AT KABUL AIRPORT
People waiting desperately for a space on a flight out of Afghanistan were seen carrying those who had been wounded to ambulances, their clothes covered in blood.
Desperate kids showed British passports at Kabul airport just hours before the terrorist blasts.
Three-year-old Tawid, his sister Asia, six, and their mum Sultan Zari had been among crowds trying to flee Afghanistan.
Sobbing Sultan said: “Getting to the UK is everything for us. this is hell on earth.”
It was not known last night if the family had been evacuated yet.
Bloodied survivors were raced from the scene in wheelbarrows, according to local TV news channels.
Joseph Gamp Today, 08:40
US OFFICIAL CONFIRMS FIRST BLAST WAS SUICIDE BOMB
A US official confirmed the first blast was caused by a suicide bomb, with initial reports suggesting the second explosion was a car bomb.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said one explosion occurred near buses lined up outside Abbey Gate and the other close to the nearby Baron Hotel.
A source told Fox News that the attacks in Kabul may be an "ongoing event" - with more violence to come.
Joseph Gamp Today, 08:30
MAPPED: KABUL AIRPORT ATTACK
Joseph Gamp Today, 08:20
AFGHANISTAN NEWS: THE LATEST
Hours before UK and US governments warned Kabul Airport faced ‘imminent, highly lethal’ attack Desperate Afghans were told ‘forget airport and run for border’ to flee from Taliban Ex-Marine Pen Farthing and his 200 animals were blocked from airport by Taliban Taliban took a US Black Hawk helicopter for joy ride after seizing 200,000 firearms
Joseph Gamp Today, 08:10
ISIS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR KABUL AIRPORT SUICIDE BOMB ATTACKS THAT KILLED AT LEAST 100
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Kabul airport suicide bomb attacks which killed at least 103 people.
The terror group released a picture of one of the suicide bombers, identified as Abdul Rehman Al-Loghri.
Read more here.
caroline.mortimer@thesun.co.uk Today, 08:00
STATE DEPARTMENT TRACKING AROUND 1,000 US CITIZENS STILL IN AFGHANISTAN
The State Department says it is tracking roughly 1,000 American citizens who it believes may still be in Afghanistan, as evacuation efforts proceed despite deadly suicide attacks outside the Kabul airport.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said Wednesday that some 1,500 U.S. citizens were still thought to be in the country but the department said Thursday that it confirmed about 500 of them had been evacuated.
In the meantime, it said another 500 people claiming to be Americans wanting to leave had gotten in touch with the U.S. Embassy but that it expected the majority of them would turn out not to be U.S. citizens. Of the 1,000 Americans the department believes to be in Afghanistan, it said about 75% were making preparations to leave.
caroline.mortimer@thesun.co.uk Today, 07:30
TIMELINE OF JOE BIDEN’S RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS
August 26, 2021: Biden to address the public following the Kabul airport attacks. August 23, 2021: Biden again ignored questions about the Middle East crisis after his aide says he “never shies away” from reporters. August 22, 2021: During a live address to the nation, Biden again insisted that pulling US troops out of Afghanistan was “the right decision” as he defended his handling of the crisis. August 21, 2021: Biden canceled his trip to his holiday home in Delaware as the crisis in Afghanistan rages on. August 20, 2021: President Biden addressed the nation about the US’ evacuation efforts in Afghanistan amid fierce criticism.
caroline.mortimer@thesun.co.uk Today, 07:00
JOE BIDEN SAYS HE WILL GRANT “ADDITIONAL FORCE” TO CARRY OUT U.S. EVACUATION IN AFGHANISTAN
Joe Biden has said the U.S. will “grant additional force” to continue its evacuation of its citizens and Afghans who are vulnerable to the Taliban advance following a devastating suicide attack.
At least 12 US troops were killed in twin blasts outside Kabul airport where thousands were queuing for rescue flights.
Biden said: “We will not be deterred by terrorists.”
“These ISIS terrorists will not win. We will rescue those Americans in there,” the president explained.
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