Afghanistan: US drone strike kills ‘multiple suicide bombers’ near Kabul airport

A drone has destroyed a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” who were heading to Kabul airport, US officials have said.

A spokesperson said: “US military forces conducted a self-defence unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent Isis-K threat to Hamad Karzai International airport.

“We are confident that we successfully hit the target. Significantly secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.

“We are assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties, though we have no indications at this time. We remain vigilant for potential future threats.”

The strike is the second carried out by U.S. forces in Afghanistan since an Islamic State suicide bomber struck the airport on Thursday, killing 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghan civilians trying to flee the country.

On Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden said the situation on the ground remained extremely dangerous, and that his military chiefs had told him another militant attack was highly likely within the next 24-36 hours.

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Pictures released of drone strike on ‘suicide bomber'

Sunday 29 August 2021 19:45 , Barney Davis

Afghan journalists take photos of destroyed vehicle inside a house after U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, , 2021.

A U.S. drone strike destroyed a vehicle carrying “multiple suicide bombers” from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul’s international airport, American officials said.

Taliban vows to allow Afghans ‘safe passage’ to leave

Sunday 29 August 2021 17:33 , Barney Davis

The UK Government has received assurances from the Taliban that anybody wishing to leave Afghanistan after August 31 will be allowed to do so.

British troops have already left Kabul and US military personnel will be out of Afghanistan before the August 31 deadline set by US President Joe Biden.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that if the Taliban regime wanted diplomatic recognition and aid funding, they would have to ensure “safe passage” for those who want to leave.

A joint statement said: “We have received assurances from the Taliban that all foreign nationals and any Afghan citizen with travel authorisation from our countries will be allowed to proceed in a safe and orderly manner to points of departure and travel outside the country.”

Biden travels to air base to honor US troops killed in Afghanistan

Sunday 29 August 2021 17:32 , Barney Davis

President Joe Biden arrived at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday to honor members of the military killed in a suicide bomb attack during the evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan last week.

An Islamic State suicide bombing on Thursday killed scores of Afghans and 13 American troops who were guarding Kabul’s airport amid an airlift that has evacuated about 114,400 people in the past two weeks.

Pen Farthing lands in Heathrow ‘with mixed emotions’ and animals

Sunday 29 August 2021 16:20 , Barney Davis

Pen Farthing has finally landed at Heathrow with his cats and dogs but said he had mixed emotions after the partial success of Operation Ark.

Fox News reporting no civilian injuries after US airstrike on suicide bomber destined for Kabul airport

Sunday 29 August 2021 15:38 , Barney Davis

The US carried out a drone strike against an ISIS-K target in a vehicle filled with explosives in Kabul, Fox News is reporting.

“Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material,” US military official says.

No civilian casualties, they added.

A Taliban spokesman says a US airstrike targeted a suicide bomber in a vehicle who wanted to strike the Kabul airport

Sunday 29 August 2021 15:15 , Barney Davis

The Taliban said that a US airstrike targeted a suicide bomber in a vehicle Sunday who wanted to attack the Kabul international airport amid the American military’s evacuation there.

There were few initial details about the incident, as well as a rocket that struck a neighborhood just northwest of the airport, killing a child. The two strikes initially appeared to be separate incidents, though information on both remained scarce.

Unverified videos of a rocket strike some 4km away from Kabul Airport coming through

Sunday 29 August 2021 14:44 , Barney Davis

An explosion was heard near Kabul airport, witnesses said on Sunday, and television footage showed black smoke rising into the sky but there was no immediate word on any casualties.

Two witnesses said the blast appeared to have been caused by a rocket that hit a house in an area to the northern side of the airport but there was no immediate confirmation.

Breaking: US has carried out another military strike in Kabul, two U.S. officials tell Reuters

Sunday 29 August 2021 14:37 , Barney Davis

The United States carried out a military strike on Sunday in Kabul, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strike targeted suspected ISIS-K militants. They said they were citing initial information and cautioned it could change.

Latest images from Kabul

Sunday 29 August 2021 14:02 , Tammy Hughes

Innocent folk singer slayed by Taliban fighter

Sunday 29 August 2021 13:58 , Tammy Hughes

A Taliban fighter shot dead an Afghan folk singer in a restive mountain province under unclear circumstances, his family said Sunday.

The killing of Fawad Andarabi reignited concerns among activists that the insurgents would return to their oppressive rule in the country after their military blitz toppled the government.The shooting Friday of the folk singer came in the Andarabi Valley, an area of Baghlan province some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Kabul.

The valley had seen upheaval since the Taliban takeover, with some districts in the area coming under the control of militia fighters opposed to the Taliban rule.

The Taliban say they have since retaken those areas, though neighbouring Panjshir in the Hindu Kush mountains remains the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces not under its control.

The Taliban previously came out to Andarabi’s home and searched it, even drinking tea with the musician, his son Jawad Andarabi told The Associated Press.

But something changed Friday.“He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people,” his son said. “They shot him in the head on the farm.”His son said he wanted justice and that a local Taliban council promised to punish his father’s killer.

Biden to honour suicide bomb victims

Sunday 29 August 2021 13:40 , Tammy Hughes

U.S. President Joe Biden will head to Dover Air Force Base on Sunday to honour members of the U.S. military killed in a suicide bomb attack during the evacuation of civilians from Kabul airport last week.

An Islamic State suicide bombing just outside Kabul airport on Thursday killed scores of Afghans and 13 American troops.

Biden was expected to receive the service members’ remains that were being flown back to the United States. Families of those troops were also expected to be present.

Thursday’s attack, which was claimed by Isis-K, the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, was the most lethal incident for U.S. service members in Afghanistan in a decade.

The bombing took place just outside the gates of the airport, where thousands of people have gathered to try to get a flight out since the Taliban returned to power on Aug. 15.

The Taliban’s rapid advance across the country amid the withdrawal of American and allied troops, and the chaotic scenes at the airport have presented Biden with his biggest foreign policy challenge to date.

Sunday 29 August 2021 11:04 , Tammy Hughes

British Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow exits a plane after being evacuated from Kabul upon its arrival at RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire.

Western deportation to Afghanistan before Taliban takeover ‘shameful’

Sunday 29 August 2021 09:10 , Tammy Hughes

Western nations behaved “shamefully” by deporting people to Afghanistan before leaving the nation to the Taliban, an advocate for Afghan refugees has said.

Abdul Ghafoor, the director of the Afghanistan Migrants Advice and Support Organisation (Amaso), said some nations were trying to deport Afghans back to the nation even until the day Kabul fell.

“I have been advocating against the deportation to Afghanistan for the past six years… my fear was what we are witnessing today,” the 35-year-old told the PA news agency.

“It’s shameful to see that some of the countries were insisting (on deportations) until the last day – until Kabul had collapsed.”

Mr Ghafoor only named Belgium and Austria among countries that were insisting on deportations until the Taliban had taken Kabul, but added the UK has been “very tough” on Afghan refugees.

Biden warns another terror attack is ‘highly likely'

Sunday 29 August 2021 09:05 , Tammy Hughes

US President Joe Biden vowed to keep up air strikes against the Islamic extremist group whose suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members.

Mr Biden also warned another attack was “highly likely” and the State Department called the threat “specific” and “credible” late on Saturday.

The Pentagon said the remaining contingent of US forces at the airport, now numbering fewer than 4,000, had begun their final withdrawal ahead of Mr Biden’s deadline for ending the evacuation on Tuesday.

Troops arrive in Brize Norton

Sunday 29 August 2021 08:58 , Tammy Hughes

Ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow arrived on one of the last flights carrying UK military and civilian personnel on their final homeward leg back from Afghanistan.

A Voyager aircraft touched down at RAF Brize Norton airfield in Oxfordshire on Sunday morning.

Roughly 250 personnel were on board, including members of 16 Air Assault Brigade who were stationed at Kabul airport.

The plane flew in from Al Minhad airfield in the United Arab Emirates near Dubai where the UK’s evacuation flights from Afghanistan first landed.

Further flights carrying personnel are expected later on Sunday.

Sunday 29 August 2021 08:47 , Tammy Hughes

The US military has released images of the 12 service members killed in the Kabul airport blast.

Top Row, from left: Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, Calif., Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif., Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah, Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska, and Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Bottom Row, from left: Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana, Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas, Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri, Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo., Navy Corpsman, Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee. Not pictured is Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Roseville, Calif., was also killed. (1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton/U.S. Department of Defense via AP)

UK has ‘very little to show’ for 20 years in Afghanistan

Sunday 29 August 2021 08:45 , Tammy Hughes

Conservative MP and veteran Tobias Ellwood said the UK had “very little to show” for 20 years in Afghanistan.

The chairman of the Commons Defence Select Committee told LBC: “Our armed forces performed so valiantly but they were let down by their political masters.

“We lacked the strategy, the statecraft, the patience to see through, and the manner of our departure is a humiliation, a confirmation of our diminished resolve, and our adversaries will not be slow to exploit it.”

He warned that “terrorism will raise its ugly face again” and “until we defeat this ideology, we can have as many drone strikes as we like, we can invade as many countries as we like, we will never win”.

Mr Ellwood added: “Unfortunately, we’ve made the situation worse, by absenting ourselves from the very place where it’s now very easy for terrorist groups to do their work.”

Sunday 29 August 2021 08:43 , Tammy Hughes

UK troops leave Kabul.

Sunday 29 August 2021 08:42 , Tammy Hughes