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    Thursday, May 02, 2024

    Biden told another Kabul terror attack 'likely'

    Afghans walk through a security barrier as they enter Pakistan through a common border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans cross the border daily through Chaman to visit relatives, receive medical treatment and for business-related activities. Pakistani has not placed any curbs on their movement despite recent evacuations from Kabul. (AP Photo/Jafar Khan)

    Washington — President Joe Biden’s national security team has told the president that another terror attack is “likely” in Kabul, and that “maximum force protection” measures are being taken at the airport in the Afghan capital.

    White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not go into detail on the assessment Biden received from his team one day after a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and scores of Afghans outside the airport.

    Psaki says the next few days of the mission to evacuate Americans and vulnerable Afghans fleeing Taliban rule “will be the most dangerous period to date.”

    Biden has said that he intends to complete the evacuation by his Tuesday deadline.

    The Pentagon says it has determined that the attack at the Kabul airport on Thursday involved only one location and not two as was previously reported.

    The Pentagon said there was one Islamic State suicide bomber, who struck at the Abbey Gate, where desperate Afghans were crowding to try and enter Kabul airport grounds and where U.S. troops were conducting security checks.

    Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, the deputy director for regional operations on the Pentagon's Joint Staff, told reporters on Friday that there was no second explosion near the Baron Hotel near the airport.

    He said the bombing at the Abbey Gate was followed by direct gunfire from north of the gate — part of what the military has called a complex attack. Taylor said they have no more details on the identity of the shooters. Taylor attributed the incorrect initial U.S. report about a second explosion to confusion.

    In its claim of responsibility late Thursday, IS said one of its fighters carried out the bombing and posted a purported photo of the bomber, posing with his explosives vest before the attack.

    Two officials said 169 Afghans died, but a final count might take time amid the confusion. The U.S. said 13 troops were killed in what was the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan since August 2011.

    In this image provided by the U.S. Navy and taken on the military base in Rota, near Cadiz in southern Spain on Friday Aug. 27, 2021, evacuees from Afghanistan arrive at the Rota navy base. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathan Carpenter, via AP)
    Afghans lie on beds at a hospital after they were wounded in the deadly attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Afghan men try to identify the dead bodies at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, a day after deadly attacks outside the airport. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    FILE - In the file photo dated Monday Aug. 16, 2021, provided by the Ministry of Defence, the first flight carrying evacuated personnel of British Embassy staff and various British Nationals, arriving from Kabul at RAF Brize Norton in England, early. Taliban forces have toppled the Western-backed Afghanistan government, as international nations scramble to evacuate diplomats and vulnerable people from Kabul. Britain’s defence chief Ben Wallace on Friday Aug. 27, 2021, is promising to investigate a security lapse that saw documents identifying Afghan staff and job applicants left behind at the abandoned U.K. embassy in Kabul. (Sharron Flyod/Ministry of Defence via AP, FILE)
    In this image provided by the U.S. Navy and taken on the military base in Rota, near Cadiz in southern Spain on Friday Aug. 27, 2021, evacuees from Afghanistan arrive at the Rota navy base. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Owen, via AP)
    Passengers disembark from the last plane from Afghanistan carrying evacuees from Kabul arriving at Copenhagen Airport Friday Aug. 27 2021. Approximately 55 people were aboard the plane, including employees from the Danish Foreign Ministry, Danish police and defence personnel, the culmination of evacuating about one thousand people from Afghanistan to Denmark. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
    In this image provided by the U.S. Navy and taken on the military base in Rota, near Cadiz in southern Spain on Friday Aug. 27, 2021, evacuees from Afghanistan move through a security checkpoint after arriving at the Rota navy base. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathan Carpenter, via AP)
    A woman walks past paintings made by artists from Gurukul art school paying tribute to victims of deadly attacks at the airport in Kabul, in Mumbai, India, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
    Afghan men try to identify the dead bodies at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, a day after deadly attacks outside the airport. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Taliban fighters stand guard outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, a day after deadly attacks outside the airport. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    An Afghan woman tries to identify a dead body at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, a day after deadly attacks outside the airport. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Taliban fighters stand guard outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, a day after deadly attacks. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Taliban fighters stand guard outside the airport after Thursday's deadly attacks, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Afghans carry the dead body of an Afghan at a hospital after deadly attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Taliban fighters stand guard outside the airport after Thursday's deadly attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Afghans lie on beds at a hospital after they were wounded in the deadly attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)
    Afghans lie on beds at a hospital after they were wounded in the deadly attacks outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon)

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