12 U.S. Service Members Killed in Attack at Kabul Airport; 15 Others Injured
At least 12 service members were killed in the suicide bombings in Afghanistan earlier today, U.S. officials just confirmed in a Pentagon press conference. That includes 11 Marines and one Navy medic.
At least 15 other service U.S. members were injured in the attacks, but officials warn those numbers may grow as they continue to assess the scene.
Additionally, the Afghan health ministry says that more than 60 people were killed and at least 140 persons were wounded in the coordinated attacks.
The suicide bombing took place just outside of the Kabul airport on Thursday. The airport is the center of the United States' massive evacuation effort to evacuate Americans and our allies from Afghanistan.
Officials believe a division of ISIS is responsible for today's attack. Government officials had been urging people to leave the area surrounding the airport in recent days, citing intelligence that terrorist organizations were plotting such attacks.
Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, head of the US Central Command, said there are roughly 1,000 Americans left in Afghanistan following an attack at Kabul's airport Thursday.
Evacuation flights continued to take off from the airport on Thursday. The United States is still planning to have fully exited from the country by August 31.