Some of the dozens of civilians who were killed in this week’s bombing at the Kabul airport may have actually been shot dead by US troops amid the chaos caused by the blast, according to eyewitnesses.
Russia Today, citing eyewitnesses who talked to BBC, reported on Saturday that not everyone who died on Thursday at the Kabul airport was killed at the hand of the suicide bomber.
On Thursday, two bomb attacks were carried out near the Kabul airport as scores of people, trying to leave Afghanistan, had crowded around one of the airport’s main access gates.
The attacks, claimed by Daesh, killed as many as 170 people.
The brother of one of the victims, who was killed along with his wife around the airport, said the couple was killed by gunfire in the resulting “confusion” that occurred after the bombing.
Another source claimed that a civilian who had worked with US forces was also shot to death by the troops. He said the victim was found with a bullet hole in his head with no other injuries.
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The US and its NATO allies have been evacuating their citizens from Afghanistan in recent weeks, as the Taliban took over Kabul earlier this month. But the slow evacuation efforts have brought daily mayhem at the Kabul airport, with tens of thousands of Afghans trying to flee the country onboard US military aircraft.
In the wake of the attack, several NATO members put their evacuation efforts on hold, admitting that thousands of desperate Afghan allies may be left behind.
More than 112,000 people have fled Afghanistan since the Taliban took power two weeks ago.
The US military said on Saturday that American forces have been compelled to forge closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of such bombings, but warned that “the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high.”
President Joe Biden’s decision to hastily pull US forces out of Afghanistan has prompted widespread criticism, including from US allies, who say the messy withdrawal has significantly aggravated the security situation in the country.
