THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two suicide bombers struck a packed crowd outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 12 American service members and scores of Afghan civilians, officials said.
In the final days of its 20-year presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. military sustained one of the highest single-day American tolls of the war.
“Today is a hard day,” said Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., head of the United States Central Command. And he warned that the danger was not over.
“We have other active threats against the airfield,” General McKenzie told reporters at a news conference in Washington.
The bombs were set off near a crowd of families at the airport gates who were desperately hoping to make one of the last evacuation flights out. Gunfire was reported in the aftermath of the explosions.
The Islamic State released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. » | Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, Megan Specia, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Jim Huylebroek, Matthieu Aikins, Victor J. Blue, Fatima Faizi, Najim Rahim, Fahim Abed and Sharif Hassancontributed reporting. | Thursday, August 26, 2021
