Chaos at Kabul airport, five killed in gunfire
Lagatar24 Desk: At least five people were killed at Kabul Airport when a rampaging crowd appeared to board the last few flights leaving Afghanistan after the Taliban take over.
Quoting a witness, a news agency said it was not clear whether the victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede. Earlier, reports said US troops fired in the air as a massive crowd mobbed the airport’s tarmac.
Videos shared on different social media platforms showed hordes of Afghan nationals jostling to climb into a plane to fly out of the country. A video taken from the airport showed men climbing atop a staircase and trying to access the crowded jet bridge of an airplane.
In a NOTAM (notice to airmen), the authorities said the civilian side of the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul had been closed and the airspace over the airport had been released to the military. Air India has also suspended operations over Afghan airspace. All Delhi-Kabul-Delhi flights have also been cancelled.
The United States deployed as many as 6,000 personnel at the Kabul airport to evacuate its diplomats and citizens and those of its allies from Afghanistan. The US military has secured the perimeter of Kabul airport, which is also serving as the acting consulate for some countries such as France. The development comes a day after the Taliban took control of the capital city of Kabul and declared that war in Afghanistan was over. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
