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ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing attacks near Kabul airport that have killed over 70 civilians, 28 Taliban members and 13 US troops.

At least 60 Afghans and 13 US servicemen have been killed in a suicide bombing carried out by ISIS at the Kabul airport, US officials confirmed Thursday night.

The terror group ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for the deadly double attack, the group’s Amaq News Agency said on its Telegram channel.

President Joe Biden, his voice breaking with emotion, vowed on Thursday the United States would hunt down those responsible for twin explosions at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan and said he asked the Pentagon to develop plans to strike back at them.

Biden spoke hours after the blasts killed at least a dozen American troops and scores of civilians, the worst day of casualties for US forces there in a decade.

“We will not forgive, we will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.

He promised US evacuations would continue. He gave no indication of a change in next Tuesday’s US pullout target.

“I have also ordered my commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities. We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place we choose and the moment of our choosing,” Biden said.

Kabul: At least 40 people were killed and 120 injured in twin explosions near Kabul airport on Thursday, according to New York Times. The initial blast was reported near Abbey Gate of the airport while the second explosion occurred near Baron hotel.
Western nations had warned earlier in the day of a possible attack at the airport in the waning days of a massive airlift. Suspicion for any attack targeting the crowds would likely fall on the Islamic State group and not the Taliban, who have been deployed at the airport’s gates trying to control the mass of people.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry gave the first official casualty count, saying 13 people had died and 15 were wounded.
U.S. officials said that American personnel were wounded in the blast, without elaborating. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also confirmed the blasts, saying one near an airport entrance was a complex attack and another was a short distance away by a hotel.
One explosion went off in a crowd of people waiting to enter the airport, according to Adam Khan, an Afghan waiting nearby. He said several people appeared to have been killed or wounded, including some who lost body parts.
Several countries urged people to avoid the airport earlier in the day, with one saying there was a threat of a suicide bombing. But just days or even hours for some nations before the evacuation effort ends, few appeared to heed the call.
Over the last week, the airport has been the scene of some of the most searing images of the chaotic end of America’s longest war and the Taliban’s takeover, as flight after flight took off carrying those who fear a return to the militants’ brutal rule.
Already, some countries have ended their evacuations and begun to withdraw their soldiers and diplomats, signaling the beginning of the end of one of history’s largest airlifts. The Taliban have pledged not to attack Western forces during the evacuation, but insist the foreign troops must be out by America’s self-imposed deadline of August 31.
Overnight, warnings emerged from Western capitals about a threat from Afghanistan’s Islamic State group affiliate, which likely has seen its ranks boosted by the Taliban’s freeing of prisoners during their blitz across the country.
British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told the BBC early Thursday there was very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack at the airport, possibly within hours. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said his country had received information from the U.S. and other countries about the threat of suicide attacks on the mass of people.
The acting U.S. ambassador to Kabul, Ross Wilson, said the security threat at the Kabul airport overnight was clearly regarded as credible, as imminent, as compelling. But in an interview with ABC News, he would not give details and did not say whether the threat remained.
A while later, the blast was reported. U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the explosion, the White House says.
Late Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy warned citizens at three airport gates to leave immediately due to an unspecified security threat. Australia, Britain and New Zealand also advised their citizens Thursday not to go to the airport, with Australia’s foreign minister saying there was a very high threat of a terrorist attack.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that any attack was imminent in the wake of those warnings.

Earlier Thursday, the Taliban sprayed a water cannon at those gathered at one airport gate to try to drive the crowd away, as someone launched tear gas canisters elsewhere.
Nadia Sadat, a 27-year-old Afghan, carried her 2-year-old daughter with her outside the airport. She and her husband, who had worked with coalition forces, missed a call from a number they believed was the State Department and were trying to get into the airport without any luck. Her husband had pressed ahead in the crowd to try to get them inside.
We have to find a way to evacuate because our lives are in danger, Sadat said. “My husband received several threatening messages from unknown sources. We have no chance except escaping.
Gunshots later echoed in the area as Sadat waited. There is anarchy because of immense crowds,” she said, blaming the U.S. for the chaos.
Aman Karimi, 50, escorted his daughter and her family to the airport, fearful the Taliban would target her because of her husband’s work with NATO.
The Taliban have already begun seeking those who have worked with NATO,” he said. They are looking for them house-by-house at night.
Many Afghans share those fears. The hard-line Islamic group wrested back control of the country nearly 20 years after being ousted in a U.S.-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaida orchestrated while being sheltered by the group.
Senior U.S. officials said Wednesday’s warning from the embassy was related to specific threats involving the Islamic State group and potential vehicle bombs. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing military operations.
The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan grew out of disaffected Taliban members who hold an even more extreme view of Islam. The Sunni extremists have carried out a series of brutal attacks, mainly targeting Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority, including a 2020 assault on a maternity hospital in Kabul in which they killed women and infants.
The Taliban have fought against Islamic State militants in Afghanistan. But IS fighters were likely freed from prisons along with other inmates during the Taliban’s rapid advance. Extremists may have seized heavy weapons and equipment abandoned by Afghan troops. AP

The photos of Syed Ahmad Sadat, Afghanistan’s former communication and technology minister, were posted on Twitter by Al Jazeera Arabia recently. He quit the job in 2020 and went to Germany. Sadat holds two master’s degrees in communications and electronic engineering from Oxford University.