13 US service members killed in Kabul airport explosion, officials say
A suicide bombing outside of Kabul, Afghanistan’s airport Thursday has killed 12 U.S. service members, officials tell Fox News. A second explosion later took place outside the Baron Hotel, sources say.
FAST FACTS
- A suicide bombing outside the Abbey Gate at Kabul’s airport in Afghanistan Thursday has killed at least 10 U.S. Marines and soldiers, U.S. officials tell Fox News.
- A U.S. official indicated that the attack set off a firefight at Abbey Gate, where last night, there were 5,000 Afghans and potentially some Americans seeking access to the airport.
- A second explosion happened outside the Baron Hotel, sources say.
“This is a day where U.S. service members, 12 of them, lost their lives at the hands of terrorists. It’s not a day for politics.” — White House press secretary Jen Psaki said after some GOP lawmakers called for Biden to resign.
“Speaker Pelosi has ordered the flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff in honor of the U.S. Servicemembers and others killed in the bombings outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan today,” a spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.
President Biden did not deny a report circulating Thursday that officials in his administration had provided names of Americans in Afghanistan to the Taliban in order to help usher them safely to the airport.
“There have been occasions where our military has contacted their military counterparts in the Taliban and said this bus is coming through…made up of the following group…let it through,” the president said. “Yes, there have been occasions like that.”
Biden added that to his knowledge, the “bulk of that group” has been let through but can’t say with “certitude” that there was a list of names passed to the Taliban.
President Biden reiterated his attempt to have U.S. forces out of Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline, even after the deadly terrorist attack claimed the lives of 12 U.S. service members.
But the president also said the effort to get Americans and Afghan allies out of the country would go on.
“We’re going to try to continue to get you out. It matters,” Biden said.
President Biden to ISIS-K terrorists: “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement about the bombing that claimed the lives of 12 U.S. service members in Kabul while issuing a warning to lawmakers not to travel to Afghanistan.
“Today, we suffered the loss of life of at least twelve U.S. servicemembers and dozens of civilians from the terrorist attack outside of the Kabul airport,” Pelosi said. “We mourn the loss of every innocent life taken, and we join every American in heartbreak over the deaths of the Americans and all killed.”
“Sadly, the gravity of the situation in Afghanistan necessitates reiterating that Members must not request or plan visits to the region,” the statement continued. ” The Departments of Defense and State have explicitly stated that Member travel to Afghanistan and surrounding countries would unnecessarily divert needed resources from the priority mission of safely and expeditiously evacuating Americans and Afghans at risk. It should be clear that any Member presence presents a danger and an opportunity cost of resources, regardless of whatever value that Members consider they may add by such trips.”
Pelosi’s statement comes after Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton and GOP Rep. Peter Meijer, both veterans, made an unannounced trip to Kabul in a move that angered some lawmakers and Biden administrations officials.
The United States has fought against the Taliban, al Qaeda and the Haqqani insurgent groups in Afghanistan for the last two decades, but counter-terrorism experts warn that the imminent threat ISIS-K poses could prove catastrophic. Following multiple attacks near the Kabul airport Thursday, Pentagon officials blamed ISIS, and the terror network claimed responsibility.
The group referred to as ISIS-K is the “Khorasan” branch of the Islamic State, located in Afghanistan. Khorasan is a historic name for the broader region.
The insurgent group formed after a faction within the Taliban splintered and pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – in October 2014.
FIRST ON FOX: A source briefed on the situation in Kabul told Fox News that some Americans stranded in Afghanistan will likely be left behind after Thursday’s bombings.
The source told Fox News that “hundreds” of ISIS-K fighters remain in the vicinity of the Kabul airport and that the attacks are “likely to continue.”
“Military continues to retrograde and depart [the] airport,” the source told Fox News. “Almost a certainty that Americans will be left behind.”
Former President Donald Trump issued a statement Thursday offering condolences to the families of U.S. service members who died in an explosion at Kabul’s airport.
“Melania and I send our deepest condolences to the families of our brilliant Service Members whose duty to the U.S.A. meant so much to them,” Trump said. “Our thoughts are also with the families of the innocent civilians who died today in the savage Kabul attack.”
“This tragedy should have never been allowed to happen, which makes our grief even deeper and more difficult to understand,” Trump continued.
“May God bless the U.S.A.”
“We have received confirmation that roughly 500 of the 1,500 Americans that we were tracking as potentially being in Afghanistan have been evacuated,” a State Department spokesperson said.
“Over the past 24 hours, we heard from an additional roughly 500 people purporting to be Americans in Afghanistan who want to leave,” the statement continued. “We immediately began attempting to reach these individuals by phone, text, and email. Based on our experience, many of these will not turn out to be U.S. citizens in need of our assistance.”
McKenzie says evacuation flights will continue.
While acknowledging a “tough day,” Gen. McKenzie says the plans he has to evacuate Afghans and Americans is “designed to operate under stress.”
Gen. McKenzie just said since Aug. 14 the U.S. military has been sharing “information with the Taliban,” to prevent attacks since Aug. 14.
Gen. McKenzie: U.S. aircraft flying in and out of Kabul are getting shot at “on occasion.”
Vice President Kamala Harris has cancelled her scheduled campaign event with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and will instead return to Washington, Fox News has confirmed.
Harris was schedule to appear at a car rally with Newsom on Friday, but will instead return to the nation’s capital after her visit to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Thursday afternoon.
The head of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan says 12 U.S. service members were killed in the suicide attack outside the Kabul airport. 15 others were wounded.
Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command says two suicide bombers carried out the complex attack, which he attributed to ISIS.
McKenzie said ISIS gunmen also opened fire.
Twelve U.S. service members were killed in action in the suicide attack, officials tell Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson. Eleven were Marines and one was a Navy medic, they said.
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