Five people were killed in chaos at Kabul airport on Monday, witnesses said, as people tried to flee a day after Taliban insurgents seized the Afghan capital and declared the war against foreign and local forces over.
It was not immediately clear how the victims died. A U.S. official said troops had fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way onto a military flight that was set to take U.S diplomats and embassy staff out of the fallen city.
One witness, waiting for a flight out for more than 20 hours, said it was unclear if the five had been shot or killed in a stampede. U.S. officials at the airport were not immediately available for a comment.
In a social media video, three bodies could be seen on the ground near what appeared to be an airport side entrance. Reuters could not verify the footage. Another witness said he had also seen five bodies.
The frantic disorder included people swarming around and clinging to a U.S. military transport plane as it taxied on the runway, according to footage posted by a media company.
It came as Taliban officials declared a 20-year war over and issued statements aimed at calming the panic that has been building in Kabul as the militants, who ruled from 1996 to 2001, routed the U.S.-backed Afghan army as foreign forces withdrew.
President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the bearded Islamist militants entered Kabul virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesperson for the Taliban, said in a message on Twitter that its fighters were under strict orders not to harm anyone. “Life, property and honour of no one shall be harmed but must be protected by the mujahideen,” he said.
Earlier, Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, told Al Jazeera TV that the Afghan people and the Taliban had just witnessed the fruits of their efforts and sacrifices over 20 years.
“Thanks to God, the war is over,” he said.
‘PEACEFUL’
It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the whole country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.
U.S. officers have long worried that corruption would undermine the resolve of badly paid, ill-fed and erratically supplied front-line soldiers. read more
Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of fighters.
Naeem said the form of the new regime in Afghanistan would be made clear soon, adding the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and calling for peaceful international relations.