Western nations on Thursday warned of a possible terrorist attack at Kabul’s airport, where thousands of Afghanis have gathered as Americans try to leave the war-torn country amid a chaotic evacuation.
James Heappey, Britain’s armed forces minister, told the BBC on Thursday there was “very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack,” possibly targeting the airport in Afghanistan, Fox News reported. “A senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the British report, saying the threat by ISIS-K or another affiliate of a vehicle bomb or suicide bomber has been measured as ‘more likely than unlikely’ for over the last 24 hours.”
Heappey noted that “there is an appetite by many in the queue to take their chances, but the reporting of this threat is very credible indeed and there is a real imminence to it. There is every chance that as further reporting comes in, we may be able to change the advice again and process people anew, but there’s no guarantee of that,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press said several countries are urging people to avoid the airport, “where Belgium said there was a threat of a suicide bombing. … [O]vernight, new 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.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that any attack was imminent, the AP reported. “It’s not correct,” he wrote in a text message after being asked about the warnings.
But the Taliban has been locking down control of the airport, and on Thursday, armed militants sprayed a water cannon at people gathered at an airport gate in an effort to push them back. Some militants also fired tear gas canisters into the crowd.
Late Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan warned Americans at three airport gates to leave immediately because of an unspecified security threat, the AP said. “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,'” the wire service reported.
“In Belgium, Prime Minister Alexander De Cross said his country had received a warning from the U.S. that a possible attack involving an explosive amid the airport crowds in Kabul might be in the works,” Fox reported.
“We received information at the military level from the United States, but also from other countries, that there were indications that there was a threat of suicide attacks on the mass of people,” De Cross said, talking about the threat around Kabul airport.
Unlike the U.S., other nations are nearly done evacuating their citizens from the country. Leaders in France and Denmark also warned that the situation at the airport is rapidly deteriorating.
“From tomorrow evening onwards, we are not able to evacuate people from the Kabul airport,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex told RTL Radio in France, Fox reported. Danish Defense Minister Trine Bramsen also warned: “It is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul.”