An Afghan Chevening scholar who had been given a relocation pass by the British embassy but had failed to get close to the gate outside the Baron hotel yesterday, and decided to stay at home today because he did not want to expose his children to the scenes of chaos again, told the Guardian:
Due to high risk I didn’t go to Baron and waited for Home Office and embassy response for an evacuation plan, but they failed. I am disappointed. As a Chevening scholar, they promised to evacuate us but they have left as alone at this hard time.
He said he was relieved to have avoided the airport today.
The local news media say there were two blasts, one at main gate and the second one at Baron gate, and dozens have died and been injured.
UPDATE: A former interpreter with UK forces who was with his wife, 3-month-old baby girl & 3-yr-old son desperately waiting for an evacuation flight said the explosions were near them. His family is safe but he said: “It was like doomsday, injured people everywhere”
Here is what the former interpreter said he saw (he was by the Baron Hotel with his young family - site of the suspected suicide bombing): "The explosion was near us & it was a bit strong. I saw people running with blood on their faces & bodies"
The situation in Afghanistan has profoundly deteriorated, the French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday while visiting Ireland, as a suspected suicide bomb exploded outside the airport and is thought to have killed at least 11 people.
“We are facing an extremely tense situation,” Macron told a joint news conference with the Irish prime minister Micheál Martin, calling for caution.
He said France’s ambassador in Afghanistan would not remain in the country for security reasons, adding French special forces were at the airport.
Macron said:
Nobody expected such a rapid and brutal situation in Kabul. President Biden confirmed to us during the G7 that he will leave the military airport and stop its operations with Afghanistan.
I think de facto all of us are put in a position where we cannot protect all the Afghan people we wanted to protect.
Now it is our responsibility to build additional solutions to protect them during the coming weeks and months.
Grim news from Kabul. Early days but the apparent sophistication of the attack - two explosions plus reports of arms fire will be troubling to US, UK and other Western presence on the ground as evacuation draws to a close. Will it hasten the exit now?
Pentagon confirms attack has resulted in number of US and civilian casualties
The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, has said the explosion at the Abbey gate was the result of a “complex attack” that resulted in a number of US and civilian casualties.
He has also confirmed there was at least one other explosion at or near the nearby Baron hotel.
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.
Boris Johnson to chair emergency Cobra meeting on Kabul
Boris Johnson will chair an emergency Cobra meeting later on Thursday on the situation in Kabul after an explosion outside the city’s airport, my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister has been updated on the situation at the airport in Kabul and will chair a COBR later this afternoon.
One former UK soldier who was helping a mother and her five-year-old and three-year-old children evacuate told how he instructed them to get to safety this morning on reading the intel on the bomb. But he said tensions had risen sharply overnight.
They managed to inch their way forwards to within 50 metres of the Baron hotel [where the British army were processing relocation documentation] at about 3am but at around 4am/5am the Taliban closed both sides of the road and there was a massive crush. I instructed them to leave. The crowds were very volatile and the Taliban very twitchy.
A journalist in Kabul has translated and sent this statement from the Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, saying the Americans had been told about a possible Isis attack on Kabul airport.
“The Taliban are committed to the international community and will not allow terrorists to use Afghanistan as a base for their operations. The Taliban have warned US troops about possible terrorist groups such as Isis,” Mujahid said.
