Leer en Español
An explosion occurred on Thursday outside Kabul airport, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced.
U.S. officials did not provide details, although Americans are understood to be among the fatalities. They also indicated that it could be a suicide bombing.
The American soldiers currently remaining in Afghanistan (some 5,400, according to Pentagon data on Wednesday) are deployed at the airport of the Afghan capital, while the US completes the evacuation of its Afghan nationals and collaborators from the Central Asian country.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan issued an advisory warning Americans to stay away from the Kabul airport because of “security threats” outside the approaches to that facility.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson said Thursday in an interview with ABC News before the blast occurred that such threats are “credible” and “imminent.”
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of growing security risks as the days go by in Afghanistan.
The chief diplomat remarked that the evacuation operation is taking place “in a hostile environment in a city and a country now controlled by the Taliban” and with “the very real possibility of an Islamic State (IS) attack.”
