7 killed as people throng Kabul airport to flee Taliban rule in Afghanistan

National state flags of Afghanistan and Taliban together (Source: ShutterStock)

At least seven people, including three Afghan nationals who clung to a United States Air Force plane to escape Taliban rule, died on August 16 in a melee at the Kabul airport, as hundreds scrambled to board flights in a desperate bid to get out of Afghanistan, following the toppling of the government led by President Ashraf Ghani.

Taliban insurgents swept Kabul on August 15 after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ghani fled the country, bringing an unprecedented end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the war-ravaged nation.

Three Afghan nationals fell to death from the sky as they failed in their bid to flee the Taliban rule in Afghanistan by clinging to a US Air Force plane, according to video clips posted by a local news agency.

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“Exclusive- A clear video of men falling from C-17. They were clinging to some parts of the plane that took off from Kabul airport today,” the Afghan Asvaka News agency tweeted, posting the clip of the gory incident.

In another tweet, it said the bodies of three men clinging to the wheels of the plane that took off from Kabul airport fell to the ground near the Khairkahana area of Kabul.

Videos aired by TV channels and circulated in social media also showed humongous crowds of people at the entrance of the Kabul airport and also inside the airport attempting to board aircraft in chaotic scenes late Sunday and Monday morning.

Quoting senior US military officials, American news agency Associated Press reported that the chaos left seven dead, including several who fell from the flight.

Though the officials did not divulge further specific details about the deaths, they said that thousands of Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of Kabul''s international airport on Monday, so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto an American military jet as it took off and plunged to death in chaos that killed at least seven people.

According to TOLOnews, some people were killed and wounded by gunfire in the Kabul international airport as hundreds of people crowded the airport to board flights.

Kabul airport was overwhelmed on Sunday night with over 2,000 people hoping to board commercial flights leaving the country, it said.

Quoting sources, the TOLOnews report said some people were killed and wounded by gunfire at the airport on Monday morning as crowds continue to grow.

However, no further detail was available on the gunfire incident.

Meanwhile, all commercial flights have been suspended at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

The statement also urged the public to not crowd the airport.