Two deadly bombs detonated outside the airport during the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan. It has been confirmed that the Kabul Airport blasts killed 12 US soldiers. And 15 are injured. Those numbers may climb. 

An Afghan health official confirms that at least 60 Afghans have been killed and at least 120 were injured.

The 12 US service members killed, included 11 Marines and one Navy medic, and 15 were injured in the two suicide bombing attacks.

Update: As of 10:00 pm CST on Thursday it has been confirmed that one of the wounded Americans has died. This brings the number of US personnel killed to 13. 

Pentagon Press Secretary, John Kirby 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.’

“A number of US service members were killed in today’s complex attack at Kabul airport. A number of others are being treated for wounds. We also know that a number of Afghans fell victim to this heinous attack,” he said.

ISIS may be responsible

There have been warnings of a possible terror attack by ISIS-K. This is the Afghan version of ISIS. Several hours before the explosion, the US Embassy in Kabul warned Americans to stay away from the airport due to “security threats outside the gates.”

A State Department security alert also warned those at three specific airport gates to “leave immediately.”

Two ISIS fighters are being blamed for the attack. An ISIS suicide bomber with a vest detonated at the Abbey Gate of the Airport. The attacker hit a large number of Afghans and some US personnel standing in and by the canal trying to evacuate. 

 And a car bomber set off a bomb at the Baron Hotel. are believed to be behind the attacks. US officials believe the brutal terror group in a struggle with the Taliban is behind the carnage. They are calling it a “complex attack.”

Kabul airport blasts are “Complex attacks”

A man identified only as Karl, who said he was a translator for the US Marines, said he was outside waiting in line for one of the evacuation flights when the bomb went off.

“There was an explosion that happened inside the crowd — a lot of people got hurt,” he said. “I got a baby girl — she was 5 years old — she died right in my hands.”

He said some American troops were also outside the airport when the Kabul airport blasts occurred.

“It happened by a canal and the Americans were on the other side of the canal … they were checking people’s passports and stuff and those people that have visas, they were taking them by the airport. That’s why they were outside.”

The US service members, who were not killed or wounded, exchanged gunfire soon after that explosion. 

The second blast occurred soon after the first. The bomb exploded outside the nearby Baron Hotel. This is the location where many Americans and British evacuees were told to meet before heading to the airport.

The Taliban said it was an act of terrorism but largely blamed it on US forces.

“As soon as the airport situation is figured out and the foreign forces leave, we will not have such attacks anymore. It is because of the presence of foreign forces that such attacks take place,” a Taliban official told  Turkish TV.

According to a White House official, President Biden is monitoring the situation closely and was in a security meeting about Afghanistan when the attack occurred.

Biden canceled his first in-person meeting with Israel’s new prime minister. And delayed a video conference with U.S. governors on incoming Afghan refugees.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now estimating that up to 1,500 US citizens may remain stranded in Afghanistan.

Until today, the last US soldiers to die in combat in Afghanistan were on February 8, 2020.