Explosion outside Kabul airport in Afghanistan killed at least 60 people . ISIS suspected

 Suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport with at least two explosions on Thursday, causing a bloodbath among civilians, killing four U.S. marines and effectively shutting down the Western airlift of Afghans desperate to flee.

Initial estimates of the total dead and wounded differed, and were rising quickly as different hospitals and officials reported in.  

One Afghan health official said at least 30 people were confirmed dead and at least 120 wounded. Another health official said at least 40 were dead and 120 wounded. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Taliban told them not to brief the press, they said.

The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, condemned the attack, and said that at least 13 civilians had been killed and 60 wounded.

According to BBC at least 60 people died and  more than 120 people injured in that deadly attack .

In one part of one hospital alone, a New York Times journalist saw dozens of severely wounded or killed people.

Even with such a specific warning, military officials said, it would be very difficult to pick out a suicide bomber with a concealed explosive vest in a huge throng of people, like that at the airport.

The attacks came after the United States and allies urged Afghans to leave the area because of a threat by Islamic State.

A massive airlift of foreign nationals and their families as well as some Afghans has been under way since the day before Taliban forces captured Kabul on Aug. 15, capping a swift advance across the country as U.S. and allied troops withdrew.

The United States has been racing to carry out the airlift before its military is set to fully withdraw from the country by Aug. 31. There was no indication from the White House that Biden plans to change the Aug. 31 withdrawal target as a result of the attacks, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

 

Before the Taliban takeover, Afghan security forces had long formed a so-called ring of steel around the capital city, with multiple checkpoints operating along main roads and a U.S.-led intelligence system tracking extremists. There have been a series of spectacular Taliban and ISIS attacks in Kabul over the years, but that old system has evaporated since the city’s fall to the Taliban, replaced by chaos and uncertainty, opening the city to attack .

 

Taliban is again in power in Afghanistan after two decades .

Taliban soldiers

The Taliban has begun the process of forming a government in Afghanistan after taking control of the capital Kabul and declaring that the war is over as Afghan forces surrendered and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
 

Despite two decades of US military presence in Afghanistan, and a war that cost over a trillion US dollars, Taliban insurgents arrived at the gates of Kabul on Sunday and took the capital, installing themselves in the presidential palace with little resistance.

The fall of Kabul to the Taliban on Sunday had followed weeks of fighting between insurgents and Afghan forces across Afghanistan after the swift pull out of US forces this summer. In recent weeks, key cities and regions across the country had fallen to the Taliban at unprecedented speed, and the capture of Kabul sealed their control over Afghanistan.

Naeem said the Taliban would now begin the process of forming a government and would work for a peaceful transition of power, both domestically and internationally, and would aim to maintain international diplomatic ties. “We ask all countries and entities to sit with us to settle any issues,” he said.

Many Afghan leaders in cities across the country formally handed over power to the Taliban and the group is expected to formally proclaim a new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the coming days.

Afghan leaders, led by former president Hamid Karzai, said they had created a coordination council to meet with the Taliban and manage the transfer of the power.

 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy commander and chief negotiator who has been in peace negotiations with the Afghan government in Doha, Qatar since last year, said the Taliban wanted to build an “an open, inclusive Islamic government”.

President Ghani flew out of the country on Sunday night, stating that he wanted to avoid any more bloodshed. “If I had stayed, countless countrymen would have been martyred and Kabul city would have been ruined,” he wrote in a post on Facebook. Hours later, Taliban commanders, laden with arms, were photographed standing behind Ghani’s desk in the presidential palace, where they had been escorted inside by a government official . .

 

Taliban Capture major cities , approacing to Afghan Capital Kabul

The Taliban Fighters .

 

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have captured a large, heavily defended city in northern Afghanistan in a major setback for the government, and the insurgents are approaching the capital less than three weeks before the U.S. hopes to complete its troop withdrawal.

The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif, the country’s fourth largest city, which Afghan forces and two powerful former warlords had pledged to defend, hands the insurgents control over all of northern Afghanistan, confining the Western-backed government to the center and east. 

The Taliban captured all of Logar province Saturday — just south of Kabul — and have reached the Char Asyab district, just 7 miles south of the Afghan capital, according to The AP which cited local lawmakers. The insurgents also captured the capital of Paktika along Pakistan's western border.  

Taliban forces have gained control of 18 of 34 of Afghanistan's provincial capitals in just eight days — putting the insurgent group in control of about two-thirds of the nation's geography.

Addressing the Afghan public in a prerecorded statement released Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the remobilization of national security forces was a "top priority" and vowed to prevent further instability in the country.

"I understand that you are worried about your future. I assure you as your president that I will concentrate on preventing expansion of instability, violence and displacement of my people," Ghani said .

Bangladesh hits anothere record death 264 in Covid in a day .

People carrying dead body who died in covid -19 in the graveyard .

 

264 fatalities reported in 24 hours as toll nears 22,000.

Bangladesh logged the highest daily Covid deaths of 264 people in 24 hours until Thursday morning.

The country also logged 12,744 fresh Covid cases in the timeline.

With the latest statistics, the total death toll hits 21,902 and infections to 13,22,654 since it had recorded the first Covid infection on March 8, 2020, and death from the viral disease on March 18, 2020.

The new record surpassed the previous high of 258 on July 27.

As many as 46,995 samples were tested across the country, with a positivity rate of 27.12%.

The health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first three cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by a strain of coronavirus named Sars-CoV-2, on March 8, 2020.

The fast spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 4.2 million lives and infected over 201 million people across the world till Thursday afternoon, according to Worldometer.

As many as 181.13 million people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 220 countries and territories across the planet.

 

 

Lightning strikes bridal party in Bangladesh , killed 17 and several injured .

17 members of a bridal party were killed in lightning strikes at Telikhari Ghat of Padma river in Shibganj of Chapainawabganj on Wednesday afternoon.

Seven to eight more people got injured from a groom party who had just crossed the river on a boat. As they reached the ferry ghat and there was rain, they took shelter in a thatched shed at the ghat at around 12 noon. Suddenly, a thunder bolt hit them, killing 15 on the spot while two others died on the way to the hospital.

Although the detailed identify of all the deceased persons could not be known immediately, it was known that 16 of the victims are from sadar upazila and one is from Shibganj upazila, he said.

The injured were sent to the Chapainawabganj Sadar Hospital.