Thu | Jul 9, 2026

Gunfire at Kabul airport kills one amid chaotic evacuations

Published:Monday | August 23, 2021 | 9:46 AM
In this image provided by the US Air Force, US Air Force aircrew, assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, prepare to load qualified evacuees aboard a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, August 21, 2021. (Senior Airman Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A firefight just outside Kabul's international airport killed at least one Afghan soldier early Monday, German officials said, the latest chaos to engulf Western efforts to evacuate those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country.

The airport shooting came as the Taliban sent fighters north of the capital to eliminate pockets of armed resistance to their lightning takeover earlier this month.

The Taliban said they retook three districts seized by opponents the day before and had surrounded Panjshir, the last province that remains out of their control.

Afghanistan's security forces collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance, despite 20 years of Western aid, training and assistance.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee the country since, fearing a return to the brutal rule the Taliban imposed the last time they ran Afghanistan.

That has led to chaos at the airport in Kabul, the main route out of the country.

Gunfire broke out near an entrance to the airport, where at least seven Afghans died a day earlier in a panicked stampede of thousands of people.

The circumstances of the shooting, which occurred around dawn, remained unclear.

The German military tweeted that one member of the Afghan army was killed and three others were wounded by “unknown attackers.”

An Italian humanitarian organisation that operates hospitals in Afghanistan said it had treated six patients with bullet wounds from the airport.

The US military and NATO did not immediately acknowledge the shooting.

There was no comment from the Taliban.

The tragic scenes around the airport have transfixed the world.

Afghans poured onto the tarmac last week and some clung to a US military transport plane as it took off, later plunging to their deaths.

At least seven people died that day, in addition to the seven killed Sunday.

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