At least seven people were killed today at Kabul airport while trying to escape from the Taliban, including many who were said to have fallen from an in-flight plane, witnesses admitted to the exchange of fire between Americans and insurgents.
The US military, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing operation, told the Associated Press (AP) that the chaos left seven dead, including many who fell from a plane that took off. .
In a video that went viral on social media, you see what appear to be two bodies falling from a plane that has just taken off from Kabul airport.
In another video, hundreds of people were running alongside a US military plane moving on the runway, some of whom managed to cling to the plane.
Among those who fell from the plane was Fida Muhammad, a 22-year-old dentist from Kabul province, according to EFE.
“He left the house today to go to work, but we found out hours later that he died when he fell from the plane,” said Ahmed, a relative of the victim.
An eyewitness told EFE that he witnessed “three civilians and one Taliban fighter being killed in the exchange of fire between Taliban and US forces,” EFE news agency reported.
According to Mirwais Yusuf, the shooting came after the Taliban ordered several Afghan civilians to leave the airport.
When they refused to obey the order, the Taliban shot at them, which led to the response of the American forces, who opened fire on the rebels, killing him instantly.
“After the shooting everyone started running and then we saw three civilians being killed, I don’t know if they were killed by American soldiers or by the Taliban,” the witness added, quoting the witness by EFE.
After Kabul fell to the Taliban on Sunday, thousands of people rushed to the Afghan capital’s airport in the hope of fleeing the country, most without visas, commercial airline tickets or even passports.
Although they were concentrated in the civilian part of the airport, thousands of people overran the runways and forced the US forces to send soldiers to try to evacuate the runways in the military district.
Mirwais Yusuf said that “thousands of people, men, women and children, spent the night inside Kabul airport trying to leave the country, but the situation became chaotic in the morning” after the shooting.
Masoumeh Tajik, a 22-year-old data analyst, described scenes of panic she witnessed at the airport for The Associated Press.
After waiting for six hours, he heard gunshots as a crowd of men and women tried to board a plane.
Tajik said US forces fired tear gas and shot into the air to disperse protesters after people climbed walls and stormed corridors.
The Associated Press indicated that the shooting could be heard in audio messages sent by the Tajiks.
The Afghan Civil Aviation Authority announced the suspension of all commercial flights from Kabul International Airport.
Shafi Al-Arifi, who had a ticket to fly to Uzbekistan on Sunday, was unable to board the plane because the plane was full of people who had passed through the runway and boarded it, with no police or airport personnel in sight.
“There was no place for us to stand,” the 24-year-old told the Associated Press.
“The children were crying, the women were screaming, the men, young and old, were so angry and upset that no one could hear. There was no oxygen to breathe.”
After another woman died and got off the plane, Arifi surrendered and went home.
Among those rushing to the airport are Afghans who have worked with US and NATO forces over the past 20 years, including those whose visa applications have been rejected.
But most of them are ordinary people who have gone to the airport guided by the idea that the United States and Canada, which are pulling their people out of the country, will do the same with the Afghans.
“I heard yesterday [domingo] At night, three planes took off people who didn’t have a passport or visa, so several of my friends and I came to the airport in the morning and stayed there for hours” before heading home to no avail, said Tamim Ansar, an Afghan who also claimed to have witnessed a shootout. Fire between the US army and the Taliban.
