Militants fire at least five rockets from the back of a car into Kabul airport: America races to evacuate before withdrawal deadline as it emerges 'nine members of single family, including six children' were killed in US drone strike
Rockets were fired at Kabul airport on Monday morning, local time, as the threat of terror attacks increase while the United States races to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan with just hours until the August 31 deadline.
The rocket fire came as it was reported by CNN that nine members from a single family - including six children - were killed in a US drone strike targeting 'multiple suicide bombers' planning an attack on the Hamid Karzai International airport.
The preemptive strike came just hours after President Joe Biden warned of the possibility of another attack following last week's that killed 170, including 13 U.S. personnel.
Witnesses said the a strike blew up two cars parked outside a residential building near the airport to the north of Afghanistan's capital. It is believed the vehicles were going to be used in an 'imminent' attack by ISIS-K militants.
Senior officials said the U.S. has the capacity to evacuate the approximately 300 U.S. citizens remaining in Afghanistan who want to leave before Biden's Tuesday deadline.
"This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission these last couple of days," America's top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said Sunday not long before confirmation of the drone strike in Kabul.
The steady stream of U.S. military jets taking off and landing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan's capital continued, even after the rocket fire. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the rockets.
As many as five rockets were fired and some were intercepted by the C-RAM missile defense system, though it was not clear if all were brought down by the defense system, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The official said initial reports did not indicate any U.S. casualties, but that information could change. It wasn't immediately clear who launched them.
A security official who worked in the former Afghan administration that was toppled by the Taliban said the rockets had been fired from a vehicle in the north of the city.
Smoke could be seen rising near the airport and the sound of the airport's missile defense system could be heard by local residents, some of whom also reported seeing rockets exploding in the air and shrapnel falling into the street - suggesting at least one rocket had been intercepted.
However, rockets appeared to strike Kabul's Salim Karwan neighborhood on Monday, witnesses told the Associated Press. Gunfire immediately followed the explosions, but it wasn't immediately clear who was firing.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement: 'National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chief of Staff Ron Klain have briefed the President on the rocket attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
'The President was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA, and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground.'
The withdrawal of US forces allowed the Taliban to regain power after an almost 20-year war. The President's allies at home and abroad have openly accused Mr Biden of blindsiding them with his rush to exit by August 31 and slammed his bungled handling of the crisis.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will host a virtual meeting to discuss a coordinated approach for the days ahead, as the U.S. completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country.
The meeting will also include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the European Union and NATO.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan thundered that the US has shown in other countries that it is capable of 'suppressing the terrorism threat... without a large permanent presence on the ground. And we will do that in Afghanistan as well as we go forward'.
But untold numbers of vulnerable Afghans, fearful of a return to the brutality of pre-2001 Taliban rule, are likely to be left behind. There also are roughly 280 others who have said they are Americans but have not told the State Department of their plans to leave the country.
Sullivan said that for those US citizens seeking to leave Afghanistan by Mr Biden's deadline, 'we have the capacity to have 300 Americans, which is roughly the number we think are remaining, come to the airport and get on planes in the time that is remaining'.
He added: 'We moved out more than that number just yesterday. So from our point of view, there is an opportunity right now for American citizens to come, to be admitted to the airport and to be evacuated safely and effectively.'
A girl stands next to a damaged car after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Monday
A Taliban fighter investigates a damaged car after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Monday
Smoke billows above Kabul after blast heard in Afghan capital
Videos posted after the rocket attacks appear to show fires burning on a street in Kabul
An Afghan journalist shows shrapnel, left, that fell onto the homes in Kabul's Arya township after at least two rockets were fired toward the Kabul airport
U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed about the rocket attacks and ordered operations to continue
On the Monday rocket launches, a witness - who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals - said they heard the sound of three explosions and then saw a flash, like fire, in the sky and that people fled after the blasts.
Videos posted after the rocket attacks appear to show fires burning on a street in Kabul, though it was not immediately clear if they had been caused by the rockets.
Other photos appear to show the car that had reportedly fired the rockets burned and damaged while Taliban fighters stood guard of it in Lab-e Jar. Photos of the vehicle appear to show some sort of piping in the rear passenger seats.
U.S. military cargo planes continued evacuations at the airport after the rocket fire.
A Taliban spokesman said that a car bomb destined for the airport had been destroyed - and that a possible second strike had hit a nearby house on Sunday.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the State Department for more information and additional comment about the rocket attacks.
President Joe Biden has set a deadline of Tuesday to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, drawing to a close his nation's longest military conflict, which began in retaliation for the September 11 attacks.
Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman condemned the United States for launching an attack in Kabul without informing it first, in an interview on China's state television CGTN on Monday.
The spokesman told CGTN that it is unlawful for the United States to launch attacks in other countries at will.
Smoke and a car fire are seen after rockets were fired at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, and intercepted by missile defense systems early in the morning on Monday. Caption: The area from where the rockets were lunched on #kabulairport
Taliban fighters stand guard near a damaged car (not pictured) after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Monday
Damage and a car fire are seen after rockets were fired at the Hamid Karzai International Airport and intercepted by missile defense systems early in the morning on Monday
Taliban fighters investigate a damaged car after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Monday
A Taliban spokesman said that a car bomb destined for the airport had been destroyed
The rear of the car is seen as Taliban fighters stand guard after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Monday
A Taliban fighter stands guard near a damaged car after multiple rockets were fired in Kabul on Monday
The return of the hardline Islamist Taliban movement, which was toppled in 2001 but took back power a fortnight ago, triggered an exodus of terrified people aboard US-led evacuation flights.
Those flights, which took more than 114,000 people out of Kabul airport, will officially end on Tuesday when the last of the thousands of American troops pull out.
But US forces are now focused chiefly on flying themselves and American diplomats out safely.
The Islamic State group, rivals of the Taliban, pose the biggest threat to the withdrawal after carrying out a suicide bomb attack at the airport late last week that claimed more 170 lives, including those of 13 US troops.
Biden had warned more attacks were highly likely and the United States said it carried out an air strike on Sunday night in Kabul on an explosives-laden vehicle.
American officials said that a U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying 'multiple suicide bombers.' An Afghan official said three children were killed in the strike.
The United States has been accused of killing many civilians in air strikes throughout the war, one reason for losing local support.
Afghans hoping to leave Taliban-controlled Afghanistan queue at the main entrance gate of Kabul airport
A satellite photo shows Kabul's international airport as an evacuation flight taxis to the military side of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday
'We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today,' Captain Bill Urban, a US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement.
Urban said the US military was investigating whether civilians were killed, noting there were 'powerful' explosions that resulted from the destruction of the vehicle.
'We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life,' he said.
The strike on the vehicles, filled with explosives, is believed to have caused a secondary blast, killing and wounding several civilians.
An Afghan official, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said that three children were among the dead. It is not known where the children killed in the incident were at the time of the explosion.
The death toll is expected to rise with Afghan TV presenter Muslim Shirzad reporting that as many as six children were dead and nine people in total, including an interpreter who had worked with US troops, and an Afghan army officer due to get married tomorrow.
The Taliban said it welcomed the drone strike in an apparent sign of uneasy co-operation on security around the airport.
Two unnamed US officials earlier confirmed to Reuters that American forces had launched a successful strike in the capital city targeting suspected ISIS-K militants.
Dina Mohammadi said her extended family were in the building and that several of them had been killed, including children.
Ahmaduddin, a neighbour, said he had collected the bodies of children after the strike, which set off more explosions inside the house.
There were earlier reports of a possible separate incident in which it was claimed a child had been killed in a rocket strike on a house near to the airport. It has since emerged this is the same event.
A security official from the recently deposed government told AFP a house was struck while a source at the Afghan Ministry of Health separately told the BBC the blast was near the airport, with two witnesses informing Reuters a house north of the airport was struck by a rocket.
There was no official confirmation and no terrorist group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A US official told CBS: 'We are confident we hit the target we were aiming for. Initial reports indicate there were no civilian casualties.'
The official added that the drone strike caused 'significant secondary explosions' indicating the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material in the vehicle.
Biden had previously warned another terror attack on the airport was imminent after an attack at Kabul airport carried out by ISIS-K - an Islamic extremist group operating in the Central Asian country - killed 13 American service personnel and scores of Afghans.
Smoke rises after an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, August 29, 2021
A destroyed vehicle is seen inside a house after a U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday
Army Major Gen. William D. 'Hank' Taylor said at a Pentagon briefing on Saturday that two ISIS-K targets had been killed and one wounded in the drone strike in Afghanistan
The Pentagon said a US drone mission in eastern Afghanistan killed two members of the so-called Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate early on Saturday in retaliation for the airport bombing, and Mr Biden said the extremists can expect more.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr Biden said: 'The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others.
'Their bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety thus far. May God protect our troops and all those standing watch in these dangerous days.'
The evacuation of Americans proceeded as tensions rose over the prospect of another IS attack. The State Department issued a new security alert early on Sunday instructing people to leave the airport area immediately 'due to a specific, credible threat'.
Sullivan pledged the US 'will make sure there is safe passage for any American citizen, any legal permanent resident' after Tuesday, as well as for 'those Afghans who helped us'.
He said the US would continue strikes against IS and consider 'other operations to go after these guys, to get them and to take them off the battlefield'.
He added: 'We will continue to bring the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan to make sure they do not represent a threat to the United States.'
The administration's plan 'is not to have an ongoing embassy presence in Afghanistan', Mr Sullivan said.
'But we will have means and mechanisms of having diplomats on the ground there, be able to continue to process out these applicants, be able to facilitate the passage of other people who want to leave Afghanistan.'
The US Embassy said: 'Due to a specific, credible threat, all U.S. citizens in the vicinity of Kabul airport (HKIA), including the South (Airport Circle) gate, the new Ministry of the Interior and the gate near the Panjshir Petrol station on the northwest side of the airport, should leave the airport area immediately.'
Before the warning was issued, Mr Biden vowed that his revenge strike for the terror attack is 'not the last' and added that the 'situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous.'
Two U.S. officials told Reuters evacuations would continue on Monday, prioritising people deemed at extreme risk. Other countries have also put in last minute requests to bring out people under that category, the officials said.
In recent years, the Islamic State's Afghanistan-Pakistan chapter has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in those countries.
They have massacred civilians at mosques, public squares, schools, and even hospitals.
While both IS and the Taliban are hardline Sunni Islamists, they are bitter foes - with each claiming to be the true flag-bearers of jihad.
Afghan refugees, fleeing the Afghan capital Kabul, walk on the tarmac after disembarking from an US Air Force plane upon their arrival at Pristina International airport near Pristina, Kosovo on Sunday
U.S. Marines honor their fallen service members killed in action during a ramp ceremony at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Friday
Last week's suicide bombing at the airport led to the worst single-day death toll for the US military in Afghanistan since 2011.
The IS threat has forced the US military and the Taliban to co-operate in ensuring security at the airport in a way unthinkable just weeks ago.
On Saturday, Taliban fighters escorted a steady stream of Afghans from buses to the main passenger terminal, handing them over to US forces for evacuation.
The Taliban have promised a softer brand of rule compared with their first stint in power, which the US military ended because they gave sanctuary to Al-Qaeda.
But many Afghans fear a repeat of the Taliban's brutal interpretation of Islamic law, as well as violent retribution for working with foreign militaries, Western missions or the previous US-backed government.
Western allies have warned many thousands of at-risk Afghans have not been able to get on the evacuation flights.
On Sunday, the Taliban revealed their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was in southern Afghanistan and planning to make a public appearance.
'He is present in Kandahar. He has been living there from the very beginning,' said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
'He will soon appear in public,' added deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi of the leader, whose whereabouts have remained largely unknown.
U.S.-backed forced ousted a Taliban government that had provided safe haven for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was finally killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan in 2011, and have involved in a counter-insurgency war against the Islamist militants for the past two decades.
The Taliban's 1996-2001 rule was marked by a harsh version of sharia, Islamic law, with many political rights and basic freedoms curtailed and women severely oppressed.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said the group will announce a full Cabinet in the coming days, and that the difficulties will subside quickly once the new administration is up and running.
But with its economy shattered by decades of war, Afghanistan now faces a sudden halt in inflows of billions of dollars in foreign aid.
American officials said that a U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying 'multiple suicide bombers.'
ReplyDeleteSo they were like, "good luck on your suicide bombing run. Wait, can you drop me at the market? I mean it's right on your way. Me too, drop me at the vape store."