NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said allied forces should continue to evacuate as many vulnerable people as they can from Kabul despite what he branded a “horrific terrorist attack”.
“Our priority remains to evacuate as many people to safety as quickly as possible,” he tweeted after two deadly.
Belgium and the Netherlands have already halted their airlift from the airport and other allied countries are to follow suit in the coming hours and days, despite fears that at-risk people will be left behind.
The president of the European Commission, Charles Michel, echoed Stoltenberg’s call for evacuations to continue.
“Securing safe passage to the airport remains vital,” he tweeted.
‘Total panic’
The deadly blasts caused “total panic” among Afghans who had thronged outside in the hope of fleeing to safety, away from the country’s new Taliban rulers.
Wounded men in blood-soaked clothes were ferried away from the scene in wheelbarrows, while a boy clutched the arm of a man with a head injury, in images posted on social media.
“Bodies, flesh and people were thrown into a canal nearby,” Milad, who was at the scene of the first blast, told AFP.
“When people heard the explosion there was total panic. The Taliban then started firing in the air to disperse the crowd at the gate,” a second witness said.
“I saw a man rushing with an injured baby in his hands.”
In the confusion, he said he dropped the documents he hoped would help him board a flight with his wife and three children.
“Everyone is tense and the army is taking positions around the airport.”
