A US military investigation into a deadly attack during the US’ Afghanistan evacuation has concluded that a suicide bomber, carrying about 10kg of explosives packed with ball bearings, acted alone, and that the deaths of more than 170 Afghans and 13 US service members were not preventable.
The blast at Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26 last year killed 11 US marines, a sailor and a soldier, who were screening the thousands of Afghans frantically trying to get onto one of the crowded flights leaving the country after the Taliban takeover.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Photo: Reuters
At the US Department of Defense on Friday, military officials laid out a detailed and graphic minute-by-minute account of the bombing.
The bottom line was that those who died had injuries that were “so catastrophic” that they could not be overcome, they said.
Earlier thoughts that it was a complex attack involving gunfire turned out to be unfounded, they added.
“A single, explosive device killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members by explosively directing ball bearings through a packed crowd and into our men and women at Abbey Gate,” US Central Command head General Frank McKenzie said. “The disturbing lethality of this device was confirmed by the 58 US service members who were killed and wounded despite the universal wear of body armor and helmets that did stop ball bearings that impacted them, but could not prevent catastrophic injuries to areas not covered.”
Investigators said the bomber likely got near the gate by bypassing Taliban and other security checkpoints.
They said it appears the Taliban did not know of the attack, that security precautions were being taken and that intelligence about potential threats that was circulating that day was not specific.
“Based upon our investigation, at the tactical level this was not preventable,” said General Lance Curtis, who led the investigation.
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