KABUL: A blast rocked the Kabul airport, which is thronged by crowds of desperate Afghanistan seeking to flee the country after the Taliban takeover, on Thursday, causing many casualties, including US personnel.

The airport blast was said to have taken place outside one of its gates where British and US troops are stationed to oversee the evacuation process. It is suspected to be a suicide attack. Evacuated Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary said in a tweet that the blast took place at a sewage canal where Afghans were vetted. British Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, a member of the foreign affairs and national security strategy committees, said that "many were hurt" in an attack near the Baron Hotel, where the UK is processing Britons and Afghans eligible for evacuation

US President Joe Biden, speaking at the White House, vowed to carry on with evacuating people fleeing Afghanistan, the BBC reported. A Taliban leader said that more than  12 people, including women and children, were killed, and a number of Taliban guards got injured in the blast. 

He also pledged that the US would hunt down those behind the attacks and make them pay."Our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones and teammates of all those killed and injured," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

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