Islamic State group claims latest Kabul attack

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Cairo: The Islamic State group's affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for Monday's rocket attack in Kabul, saying it fired at least six Katyusha rockets at the airport in the Afghan capital.

The rockets struck a neighbourhood close to the Kabul airport.

The claim of responsibility was carried by the militant group's media arm, the Aamaq news agency. It didn't provide further details.

The US military said five rockets targeted the airport on Monday morning and that US forces on the airfield used a defensive system to intercept them.

US anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets fired at Kabul's airport early on Monday, a US official said, as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war.

The attack did not halt the steady stream of US military C-17 cargo jets taking off and landing at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The US and allied forces have evacuated about 114,400 people, including foreign nationals and Afghans deemed "at risk", in an effort that began a day before Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15.

The forces themselves are due to pull out by a Tuesday deadline agreed with the Islamist militants.

President Joe Biden reconfirmed his order for commanders to do "whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground" after he was briefed on Monday's rocket fire, the White House

said.

On Sunday, Pentagon officials said a US drone strike killed a suicide car bomber who had been preparing to attack the airport on behalf of ISIS-K, a local affiliate of Islamic State that is an enemy of both the West and the Taliban.

The drone attack killed seven people, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told China's state television CGTN on Monday, criticising the US action on foreign soil as unlawful.

It was the second such condemnation after a US Drone strike on Saturday killed two Islamic State militants in the eastern province of Nangarhar, in an attack the spokesman said had wounded two women and a child.

Afghans fearful of reprisals under Taliban rule continued to crowd the airport, appealing to foreign powers for a way out.

Two US officials told Reuters evacuations would continue on Monday, prioritising people deemed at extreme risk. Other countries have also put in last-minute requests to bring out people in that category, the officials said.

The Taliban will take full control of Kabul airport after the American withdrawal on Tuesday, Qatar's Al Jazeera television network cited an unidentified Taliban source as saying.

As the evacuations wind down, a "far greater humanitarian crisis" looms ahead for the nation of 39 million people, the U.N. refugee agency warned.

Agency chief Filippo Grandi reiterated a call for borders to remain open and for more countries to share the "humanitarian responsibility" of accepting refugees with Iran and Pakistan, which already host 2.2 million Afghans.

"More resettlement options are sorely needed. They are critically important, not only to save lives but also as a demonstration of good will," added Grandi, whose agency said last week that up to 500,000 Afghans could flee by year-end.

Monday's strike was the latest attack by the militants. The Islamic State group launched a devastating suicide bombing Thursday at one of the airport gates that killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 US service members.

(With inputs from agencies)

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