Multiple rockets fired at Kabul airport have been intercepted by a missile defence system, a US official has told Reuters news agency. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said up to five rockets were fired, although it was not clear if all were brought down by the defence system. The official said initial
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A drone has destroyed a vehicle which was carrying “a substantial amount of explosive material” and heading to Kabul airport, US officials have confirmed. A military official said the strike on Sunday caused “significant secondary explosions”. He added: “US military forces conducted a self-defence unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an
In an otherwise forgettable corner of western Germany, you drive round a corner and find yourself in America, complete with planes, jeeps and a lot of soldiers. Ramstein Air Base is the biggest part of a cluster of American facilities. Together, they make up the biggest community of Americans outside the United States. This is
A US report which says COVID-19 may have started in a laboratory is “not scientifically credible”, China has claimed. The Chinese embassy in Washington also said the report wrongly claims that Beijing is hindering a global investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. US officials said the country’s intelligence community does not believe it
The US has killed an Islamic State “planner” in retaliation for Thursday’s suicide bombing in Kabul. Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for US Central Command, said the US military had conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State member in Afghanistan’s Nangahar Province, which borders Pakistan. The strike killed one person and there were no known
Two British men and the teenage child of a third UK national were among 95 people killed in the terror attack outside Kabul airport yesterday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said. The suicide bombing was claimed by ISIS-K, an offshoot of the so-called Islamic State group. Mr Raab said: “I was deeply saddened to learn
Joe Biden has warned those behind the terror attacks at Kabul’s airport: “We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay.” The US president was speaking after it emerged that 13 US service personnel – most of them Marines – were among at least 73 people killed
An explosion has taken place outside Kabul airport amid the evacuations of thousands of people from Western nations, the Pentagon has said. The press secretary said the number of casualties was unclear. The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the explosion. Live updates on the situation in Afghanistan as the evacuation
There is a “very high risk of a terrorist attack” against the evacuation operation by the UK, US and other allied forces in Kabul, according to a senior British source. The group that is of most concern is an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan called Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, the source said. The kind
Lampedusa is an island that is, at once, blessed and cursed by its own position – a speck on the map, part of Italy but actually marooned between North Africa and mainland Europe. Tunisia is only 80 miles from this island. For those wanting to migrate from Africa to Europe, it is a familiar destination.
The G7 group of nations has agreed a “roadmap” for future engagement with the Taliban and will insist on the “safe passage” of people who want to leave Afghanistan beyond 31 August, Boris Johnson has said. The prime minister was speaking after a virtual G7 summit about the evacuation of people from Afghanistan. Mr Johnson
The Taliban has said it wants all foreign evacuations from Afghanistan to be completed when US troops to withdraw from the country on 31 August and insisted there would be no extension to that deadline. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference the Taliban is “not in favour” of allowing Afghans to leave, and said
It’s calmer outside the camp. The people, thousands of them, know that the processing that might get them on a flight to the UK can’t happen if there is a return to the chaos of the past few days. In the morning sun, people call to us as we walk, pleading for a pair of
British evacuations out of Afghanistan could not have happened without the US – and an extension depends on G7 talks with Joe Biden tomorrow, the armed forces minister has told Sky News. James Heappey said the mission to fly out thousands of British nationals and Afghans who worked for the British over the past 20
The crisis in Afghanistan is a “pretty fundamental moment” for the special relationship between Britain and the United States, according to British officials. The UK privately complained after Washington chose not to consult London earlier this year before US President Joe Biden made his decision to pull out the majority of his forces from the
It’s only a gate. A big, reinforced iron gate protected by paratroopers, but nevertheless it is just a gate. On one side a rocky drive leads to a complex of apartments and offices and tree-lined streets filled with evacuees. On the other side, it is a vision of misery. There is a dusty, rubbish strewn
The US embassy in Afghanistan has advised American citizens to avoid traveling to Kabul’s airport due to “potential security threats”. Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay is there and reports on what he saw on Saturday morning as thousands of people wait to get inside to be evacuated. The mornings are always challenging on the barricades.
Every day the scene outside the British evacuation camp changes, every day it seems to get worse and this day there is a new sense of desperation. Collectively I think the thousands queuing outside in burning temperatures know that the clock is ticking on how long this airlift will go on for. Nobody is saying
The paras knew we wanted to get outside of the British evacuation camp where they’re protecting and processing thousands of people bound for the UK. “Do you really want to go outside?” a somewhat incredulous looking soldier said to me. “Obviously I’m not going to stop you, if you are sure.” We’d been outside already,
Afghan protesters have waved their national flag in a symbol of defiance against the Taliban on the country’s Independence Day. Processions of cars drove through Kabul with banners of red, green and black billowing from them on Thursday. The Taliban, who have their own black and white flag, moved quickly to suppress the demonstrations, which