Kabul: 73 killed in airport blast,Biden vows revenge

In Afghanistan,at least 73 people including 13 US troops were killed while 150 injured in twin suicide bombings and an attack by a gunmen outside the Kabul airport on Thursday evening. Thetwo blasts ripped through crowds of Afghans trying to enter the American-controlled facility, where US-led evacuation effort was taking place, in an attempt to flee the Taliban takeover of the war torn country. Head of U.S. Central Command, General Kenneth Frank McKenzie, said the attacks would not stop the United States from evacuating Americans and others, and flights out were continuing.Officials said, a suicide bomb attack at the airport’s Abbey Gate was followed by an assault by gunmen. Another bomb attack took place nearby, at a hotel outside the airport. The Pentagon said, several American service members were injured in the multiple attacks.The Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State (IS), ISIS-Khorasan, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Meanwhile,US President Joe Biden pledged Thursday to hunt down the perpetrators of the suicide bombings that killed 12 American troops in Kabul and said the United States will not be deterred from its mission to evacuate thousands of civilians from Afghanistan."To those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," Biden said. In a solemn address from the White House, he praised the slain US servicemen as "heroes" and said the evacuation mission from Kabul will continue until the planned US withdrawal date of August 31.

The US Embassy in Kabul has issued an alert asking its citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and avoid airport gates, following the explosion outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The French envoy, too, warned its citizens to leave the area urgently.As per reports, two of the Afghanistan most prominent leaders, former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who led the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), have also been effectively put under house arrest by the Taliban.
India has strongly condemned the bomb blasts in Kabul. New Delhi extended condolences to the families of the victims of the terrorist attack. It said the attacks in Kabul reinforce the need for the world to stand unitedly against terrorism and all those who provide sanctuaries to terrorists.The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the terror attack and expressed his support for the victims of the blast.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that the situation in Kabul has seriously deteriorated and his country is coordinating with US allies to evacuate maximum number of people. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has also condemned the attack and vowed to continue evacuations from Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, the United Kingdom will continue its evacuation operation from Kabul despite the attack.