Twin blasts timed at the surge of evacuations

One of the explosions, believed to be a suicide bomber attack, happened at one of the busiest entry points to the Hamid Karzai International airport, while the evacuation is jointly manned by Taliban and US forces.

Kabul:Airport attack — involving twin explosions and gunfire — hit near a gate where people gathered attempting to get into the airport, has occurred a couple of hundred hours ahead of the official deadline marked for safe evacuation from Afghanistan.

One of the explosions, believed to be a suicide bomber attack, happened at one of the busiest entry points to the Hamid Karzai International airport, while the evacuation is jointly manned by Taliban and US forces.

The airport has three entry points - North Gate, South Gate and Abbey Gate. The explosion occurred outside Abbey gate which was the entry point where most of the people have gathered. The other explosion took place near the Baron Hotel where evacuees were lodging. Gunshots were heard ahead of the explosions.

US Spokesperson John Kirby, in his tweet, said, "We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update".

According to a media report, about 19,000 people were evacuated from Kabul on Tuesday. "This takes the total number airlifted out of Afghanistan since Aug. 14 to 82,300," the White House said on Wednesday.

"In the past 24 hours, 42 U.S. military flights and 48 coalition flights helped evacuate people from the Afghan capital amid the Taliban takeover," it said.

Earlier, the Western governments have warned of serious security threats which were concurred with by the Taliban.