No that’s not a picture of a sunset. There’s been a second explosion near the Kabul airport at the Baron Hotel and this has been confirmed by the Pentagon:
We can confirm that the explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a complex attack that resulted in a number of US & civilian casualties. We can also confirm at least one other explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate. We will continue to update.
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021
Below is video of the explosion:
#BREAKING: Second explosion outside the Baron Hotel near Kabul airport.
U.S. officials say ISIS is behind the attack. pic.twitter.com/NuJWZ9mJhg
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) August 26, 2021
#BREAKING : Second explosion hit Baron Hotel near #Kabul airport where Americans were rescued last week.
Reports saying now 30 killed in blasts.#Afghanistan #Talibans #Kabulairport @ravindrachanni pic.twitter.com/P9pBA5LhcQ— Ravindra Singh (News18) (@ravindrachanni) August 26, 2021
Here’s the location of the hotel in relation to the airport. It’s also being reported that UK troops are staying at this hotel, which would make some sense considering it’s very close to the Abbey Gate which is where UK troops were evacuating people:
per Praying Medic
The second blast was near the Baron Hotel (per Fox News) 5 Km from Kabul Airport.
UK troops are reportedly staying at the hotel. pic.twitter.com/BCmSlXsimb— Helen Van Patterson Patton (@411_JustLook) August 26, 2021
We’ve been reporting on the explosion at the Abbey Gate this morning and you can read more about that here.
As a bit of levity in this horrible time of crisis there…
I feel a great disturbance in the Internet Force, as if a thousand op-eds defending Biden for taking a victory lap on his Afghanistan evacuation were quietly deleted at once.
— John Hayward (@Doc_0) August 26, 2021