Kabul/New Delhi: Reacting to the Kabul airport blast, Tom Tugendhat, UK Conservative MP and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Thursday that whenever Islamist extremists take power, terror follows.
“The attack on innocent people at Kabul airport simply trying to escape the horror of Taliban rule shows exactly who the group has brought with them. The pattern is well established – from Nigeria and Mali to Syria and Iraq – whenever Islamist extremists take power, terror follows,” he said, adding that Taliban rule has brought this to innocent people trying to escape the horror of Taliban rule.
The prime suspect for the suicide bombing at Kabul airport is the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (Isis-K or ISKP), The Guardian reported.
Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to US President Joe Biden, had said on Sunday that there is an acute and “persistent” threat to the continuing evacuations from the Afghan capital from Isis-K, which takes its name Khorasan from that used by a series of Muslim imperial rulers for a swath of land stretching from Iran to the western Himalayas.
The warning, which focused attention on a group that has hitherto had a very low international profile, was echoed this week by British and Western European officials.
A blast rocked the Kabul airport, which is thronged by crowds of desperate Afghans seeking to flee the country after the Taliban takeover, on Thursday, causing numerous casualties, including US personnel. There was also a blast at a nearby hotel, causing more casualties.
As per sources, bodies were scattered on the roads after the explosions. Sporadic gunshots were also heard for a while, Khaama News reported.
–IANS