5 Dead at Kabul Airport as Distressed Afghans Try to Flee Country: Report

It's unclear if they were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.

At least five people were killed at the Kabul airport on Monday, 16 August as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan.

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Video Producer: Naman Shah

Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui

At least five people were killed at the Kabul airport on Monday, 16 August as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan which has now been taken over by the Taliban.

Quoting witnesses, Reuters reported that five bodies were seen being taken into a vehicle, while it is unclear if they were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.

The Taliban has taken over Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war after they captured Kabul.

Visuals of hundreds of desperate Afghans struggling to enter aircrafts to leave Afghanistan amid the crisis have emerged from the Hamid Karzai airport.

Earlier on Monday, US troops had fired shots in the air at the airport as crowds mobbed the tarmac, news agency AFP reported.

"I feel very scared here. They are firing lots of shots into the air," a witness had told AFP.

Click here to catch all live updates of teh Afghanistan crisis.

Meanwhile, all commercial flights have been suspended from the airport, TOLO News reported on Monday, quoting a statement, after the closure of Afghan airspace.

65 countries, including the United States, on Sunday had issued a joint statement urging those in positions of power to allow the people who wish to leave the country to do so.

"The United States joins the international community in affirming that Afghans and international citizens who wish to depart must be allowed to do so," Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter as the State Department released a statement signed by its close allies.