Warning of terror threat at Kabul airport
Aviation News Desk:
The United States and allies urged people to move away from Kabul airport due to the threat of a terror attack by so-called Islamic State militants as Western troops hurry to evacuate as many people as possible before deadline of 31 August. report AFP.
Pressure to complete the evacuations of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who helped Western countries during the 20-year war against the Taliban has intensified, with all US and allied troops due to leave the airport next week.
In an alert issued yesterday evening, the US embassy in Kabul advised citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately, citing unspecified “security threats”.
In a similar advisory, Britain told people in the airport area to “move away to a safe location”.
“There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack”, the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
Australia also urged its citizens and visa holders to leave the area, warning of a “very high threat of a terrorist attack” at the airport.
The warnings came against a chaotic backdrop in the capital, Kabul, and its airport, where a massive airlift of foreign nationals and their families as well as some Afghans has been under way since the Taliban captured the city on 15 August.
While Western troops in the airport worked to move the evacuation as fast as possible, Taliban fighters guarded the perimeter outside, thronged by thousands of people trying to flee rather than stay in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
