UPDATE: Death toll from terror attacks outside Kabul airport reaches 110

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, RESUMPTION OF EVACUATION FLIGHTS, CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE, OTHER CHANGES THROUGHOUT

By Saadet Firdevs Apan and Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – The death toll from Thursday explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul claimed by the terror group Daesh/ISIS-K reached 110, according to Al Jazeera.

Reporting from Kabul, Al Jazeera also said that evacuation flights have resumed.

“We have seen a number of planes take off. The number of people around the airport has grown dramatically since yesterday,” said correspondent Charles Stratford. “We have seen thousands of people scrambling up against a wall there desperate to get on the few remaining planes,” he added.

Thousands of people are waiting at the airport for evacuation, and large crowds have gathered outside the airport grounds, seeking a way inside to get a flight out.

Among the planes departing Kabul, a second flight of Turkish military personnel is due back in the capital Ankara later today.

-US, Taliban deaths

The victims of Thursday’s attack included 13 US soldiers, plus over a dozen injured, according to the Pentagon.

"We lost more people than the Americans," said an unnamed official of the Taliban, the group which took control of the city excepting the airport on Aug. 15, adding that 28 Taliban members lost their lives.

He reiterated that the US does not need to extend the Aug. 31 deadline to complete its evacuation and withdrawal.

An anonymous Western security official said that the evacuation of civilians from the airport accelerated after the attacks, and flights were carried out regularly.

At least two separate explosions took place on Thursday near Hamid Karzai International Airport, which has been thronged by crowds seeking entrance to the airport to arrange for evacuation.

Many countries worldwide as well as the Taliban condemned the attacks.

On Thursday, Turkey condemned the terror attacks and said there had been no casualties among Turkish troops at the airport.

US President Joe Biden confirmed Thursday that the attacks were carried out by the ISIS-K terrorist group, the Afghan affiliate of Daesh/ISIS, and promised to respond with "force and precision."

Daesh/ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to a statement from the group.

US forces are in control of the airport as evacuations continue – the only area of the country still under US control.