Kabul airport now ready for international flights: Taliban official
The Kabul airport was damaged with its many facilities destroyed during the withdrawal of US-led forces and American nationals on Aug. 31.
At least five people have been killed at the Kabul airport and three stowaways were reported to have fallen to their deaths from an airborne plane as thousands of Afghans are desperately trying to get on flights out of the country amid increasingly chaotic scenes, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
Victorious Taliban fighters patrolled the capital overnight after a shockingly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, prompting those fearing the group’s hardline brand of Islamist rule to flee to the airport.
US troops fired shots in the air at the Hamid Karzai International Airport to prevent hundreds of civilians from running onto the tarmac after they took over Afghanistan’s air traffic control. Witnesses said it was not clear whether the victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.
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Footage published by Asvaka showed three stowaways falling to the deaths after clinging on to the wheels of a military plane as it took off from Kabul airport.
Panicked Afghans were also seen climbing up the outside of an airbridge in a bid to get on board planes and chasing a US military C-17 down the runway.
Videos also showed hundreds of people running alongside, and in front of, a US Air Force plane preparing to take off, the Daily Mail report said.
Bloodied bodies could be seen on the ground outside the terminal building, according to those at the scene. One witness said he saw the bodies being carried into a vehicle.
All commercial services have been suspended, with only military flights leaving the country as the UK, US and other western countries repatriate their citizens.
It comes as the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed the first British nationals had landed at the RAF base Brize Norton after being evacuated from Kabul.
The Taliban swept into the capital on Sunday after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the country.
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