Pen Farthing news latest – Animal activist TRAPPED in Kabul with 200 dogs after ISIS bombs kill dozens 'including Brits'
FORMER commando turned animal rescuer Pen Farthing and his dogs are trapped in Afghanistan after Kabul airport was sealed off.
The ex Commando, who has been battling to evacuate his staff and almost 200 rescue animals, was forced to turn away from an evacuation flight yesterday.
It happened as two suicide bombers detonated devices at the airport in separate attacks on Thursday – killing at least 85 people and leaving scores injured.
Women and kids were killed as officials said it was “highly likely” that British nationals had died in the carnage.
Pen, 69 Afghans and the rescue animals were 300 metres inside the airport perimeter when when the Taliban told the group they couldn't board a jet.
However, a defiant Pen told The Sun this morning: "I am going to try again."
It comes as Boris Johnson vowed to continue British rescue efforts in the country despite the attack. He said the evacuation effort would continue "until the very last moment".
Read our Kabul explosion live blog for the latest updates…
- Joseph Gamp
SWEDISH GOVERNMENT SAYS IT HAS ENDED EVACUATIONS FROM KABUL
Sweden said Friday it had ended its evacuations out of Kabul, after airlifting more than 1,100 people to Sweden in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde told reporters: "The incredibly difficult and risky conditions meant we were not able to evacuate more Swedes and local employees."
- Joseph Gamp
JOE BIDEN SAYS HE WILL GRANT “ADDITIONAL FORCE” TO CARRY OUT US EVACUATION IN AFGHANISTAN
Joe Biden has said the U.S. will “grant additional force” to continue its evacuation of its citizens and Afghans who are vulnerable to the Taliban advance following a devastating suicide attack.
At least 12 US troops were killed in twin blasts outside Kabul airport where thousands were queuing for rescue flights.
Biden said: “We will not be deterred by terrorists.”
“These ISIS terrorists will not win. We will rescue those Americans in there,” the president explained.
- Joseph Gamp
‘WE WILL NOT FORGIVE’
President Joe Biden has said the country will not “forgive” the terror attack which killed at least 12 military personnel in Kabul as they tried to help people flee the Taliban.
Addressing the nation, he said: “The lives we lost today were lives given in the service of liberty, the service of security, the service of others.”
“Those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America, know this: We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay,” he added.
- Joseph Gamp
AT LEAST 85 PEOPLE DEAD INCLUDING 13 US MARINES
Twin suicide bombs ripped through crowds outside Kabul airport on Thursday, killing at least 85 people including 13 US troops and deepening panic in the final days of an already frenzied evacuation effort from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The bombings, claimed by the Islamic State group, left scenes of carnage outside the airport where thousands of Afghans desperate to flee their country had massed.
They had swarmed around the airport despite a flurry of foreign government warnings — made just hours before — that a major terror attack was imminent.
- Joseph Gamp
NEARLY 100,000 WESTERNERS HAVE BEEN EVACUATED FROM AFGHANISTAN IN 12 DAYS
The US will press on with evacuations despite the threat of further attacks, with it said there are around 1,000 US citizens still in Afghanistan.
The pace of evacuation flights had accelerated on Friday and American passport holders had been allowed to enter the airport compound, said a Western security official stationed inside the airport.
In the past 12 days, Western countries have evacuated nearly 100,000 people.
But they acknowledge that thousands will be left behind when the last U.S. troops leave at the end of the month.
- Joseph Gamp
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE THE BRITISH ARMY EVACUATED FROM KABUL?
More than 13,000 people have been evacuated in two weeks under the British military's Operation Pitting.
It included 8,000 Afghans under the ARAP scheme who served as interpreters and other workers for British troops during the conflict.
- Joseph Gamp
KABUL HOSPITALS OVERWHELMED BY WOUNDED FOLLOWING AIRPORT BOMB ATTACKS
Medical staff in Kabul's hospitals have been working round the clockto treat some of the 150 people injured in Thursday's double bomb attack near the airport.
Hospitals, already struggling with fewer staff since the Taliban took power a week ago, have been overwhelmed.
The Kabul Surgical Centre says it received 60 wounded people in less than two hours.
Of these, at least 16 people were announced dead on arrival.
At least 85 people, including 13 Us military serviceman, were killed in yesterday's twin blasts.
- Joseph Gamp
WITNESS STANDING CLOSE TO SUICIDE BOMBER RECALLS MOMENT EXPLOSIVES WERE DETONATED
Zubair, a 24 year-old civil engineer, said he was close to a suicide bomber who detonated explosives.
“Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people – men, women and children – being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals,” he told Reuters.
- Joseph Gamp
FORMER BRIT ARMY CHIEF BRANDS US SHARING OF INTELLIGENCE WITH TALIBAN 'A DANGEROUS GAME'
A former head of the British army has called the US sharing of intelligence with the Taliban about people trying to flee Afghanistan a "dangerous game".
General Lord Richard Dannatt said: "I think it is a dangerous game. It's a matter where expediency comes in. I think it's a case of 'my enemy's enemy is my friend'.
"We are in many dimensions of least-worst situations. We do worry that information has been passed about those who we were trying to get out, who we failed to get out, that the Taliban do know who they are and this places them under great threat."
The comment follows reports that the United States is sharing biometric information with the Taliban to aid its evacuation efforts as they withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of the August 31 deadline.
- Joseph Gamp
IN PICTURES: BLASTS ROCK KABUL AIRPORT, AT LEAST 85 DEAD
At least 85 people, including 13 US military personnel, have been killed following yesterday's twin bomb attacks at Kabul airport.
Mr Wallace branded the bombings "a cowardly, callous and pointless attack" targeting people trying to flee the country.
No Brits were killed, but the Defence Sec said the threat of another attack will only increase as the military presence winds up.
It comes after at least 85 people were killed in suicide blasts yesterdayCredit: AP Pen, 25 members of staff and almost 200 animals were 300 metres inside the airport's perimeter when the Taliban turned them backCredit: Reuters - Joseph Gamp
NO BRITS KILLED IN TWIN BOMB ATTACKS AT KABUL AIRPORT
No Brits were killed, but the Defence Secretary said the threat of another attack will only increase as the military presence winds up.
More than 13,000 people have been evacuated in two weeks under the British military's Operation Pitting.
It included 8,000 Afghans under the ARAP scheme who served as interpreters and other workers for British troops during the conflict.
- Joseph Gamp
'I DON'T KNOW WHAT HIS CHANCES ARE'
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace admitted in an interview on Good Morning Britain today that the chances of trapped former serviceman Pen Farthing making it out on an RAF plane are slim.
"If he makes his way and we can find him, we will try and put him on a flight," he said.
"I don't know what chances are going to be right now for Pen."
- Joseph Gamp
BORIS JOHNSON: EVACUATIONS WILL CONTINUE FOLLOWING 'BARBARIC TERRORIST ATTACK'
After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting on Thursday, Mr Johnson said: “I can confirm that there’s been a barbaric terrorist attack, what looks like a series of attacks, in Kabul, on the airport, on the crowds at the airport, in which members of the US military, very sadly have lost their lives and many Afghan casualties as well.”
The PM told reporters in Downing Street that the evacuation programme would work “flat out” according to “the timetable we’ve got”.
“That’s what we’re going to do because the overwhelming majority of those who are eligible have now been extracted from Afghanistan,” he added.
- Joseph Gamp
WATCH: FOOTAGE SHOWS MOMENT OF EXPLOSION OUTSIDE KABUL AIRPORT
- Joseph Gamp
NEARLY 100,000 WESTERNERS HAVE BEEN EVACUATED FROM AFGHANISTAN
The US will press on with evacuations despite the threat of further attacks, with it said there are around 1,000 US citizens still in Afghanistan.
The pace of evacuation flights had accelerated on Friday and American passport holders had been allowed to enter the airport compound, said a Western security official stationed inside the airport.
In the past 12 days, Western countries have evacuated nearly 100,000 people.
But they acknowledge that thousands will be left behind when the last U.S. troops leave at the end of the month.
- Joseph Gamp
DEFENCE SECRETARY SAYS BRITAIN 'WILL HONOUR ITS DEBT' BY DOING WHAT IT CAN TO EVACUATE PEOPLE IN AFGHANISTAN
This morning Mr Wallace vowed: "We will continue to honour our debt to all those who have not yet been able to leave Afghanistan.
"We will do all that we can to ensure they reach safety."
- Joseph Gamp
PEN FARTHING AND HIS 200 RESCUE DOGS TRAPPED IN AFGHANISTAN WITH TALIBAN AFTER UK SHUTS KABUL AIRPORT GATES
PEN Farthing is TRAPPED in Afghanistan with the Taliban after it was announced the gates of Kabul's airport have been sealed.
The ex Commando, who has been battling to evacuate his staff and almost 200 rescue animals, was forced to turn away from an evacuation flight yesterday.
He was told President Joe Biden has "changed policy" on who can leave – moments before suicide bombers murdered at least 103 people, including 13 US forces personnel.
And following the horrific blasts, the Ministry of Defence has announced this morning that no one else will be called for evacuation.
The last few hours of the rescue mission will focus on airlifting Brits and Afghans already processed and waiting inside the airfield. Troops and diplomats will be the last to go.
Read more here.
- Joseph Gamp
WITNESS STANDING CLOSE TO SUICIDE BOMBER RECALLS MOMENT EXPLOSIVES WERE DETONATED
Zubair, a 24 year-old civil engineer, said he was close to a suicide bomber who detonated explosives.
"Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people – men, women and children – being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals," he told Reuters.
- Joseph Gamp
WHAT IS HAPPENING AT KABUL AIRPORT?
Two explosions rocked the airport in Afghanistan just hours before the evacuation deadline.
Thousands of people have gathered at the airport over the past 12 days hoping to be evacuated after the Taliban seized power.
At least 12 US service members were killed in the bombings, including 11 marines and one Navy medic, while 15 were injured, the Pentagon said.
Other blasts were heard in Kabul hours after the earlier two.
- Joseph Gamp
BRITAIN WILL COMPLETE EVACUATIONS 'IN A MATTER OF HOURS' SAYS DEFENCE SECRETARY
Britain says plans to complete its airlifts out of Afghanistan "in a matter of hours" as the frenzied evacuation effort out of Kabul airport draws to a close.
"We will process those people that we have brought with us, the 1,000 people approximately inside the airfield now," British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News.
"And we will seek a way to continue to find a few people in the crowd, where we can, but overall the main processing has now closed and we have a matter of hours."
- Joseph Gamp
VIDEO FOOTAGE SHOWS CORPSES IN CANAL RUNNING ALONG AIRPORT PARAMETER
Video taken after the attack showed corpses in a waste water canal by the airport fence, some being fished out and laid in heaps while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.
"I saw bodies and body parts flying in the air like a tornado blowing plastic bags," said one Afghan witness.
"That little water flowing in the sewage canal had turned into blood."
- Joseph Gamp
DEFENCE SECRETARY WARNS THREAT OF ATTACKS WILL INCREASE AS FOREIGN FORCES DEPART
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the threat of attacks by Isis-K, the affiliate of the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan, around Kabul airport will increase as foreign forces depart.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I am concerned. Isis have an intent, they have the capability, should they wish to do so, to deploy more of these types of attacks.
"I'm absolutely concerned that, until we've gone, there's an absolute threat to our forces, and even after we've gone there's a threat to the Afghan people from Isis."
- Joseph Gamp
OFFICIAL CONFIRMS 72 AFGHANS DEAD FOLLOWING TWIN BLAST ATTACK
A health official and a Taliban official said the toll of Afghans killed had risen to 72, including 28 Taliban members.
However a Taliban spokesman later denied that any of their fighters guarding the airport perimeter had been killed.
The US military said 13 of its service members were killed.
- Joseph Gamp
AT LEAST 85 PEOPLE DEAD INCLUDING 13 US MARINES
Twin suicide bombs ripped through crowds outside Kabul airport on Thursday, killing at least 85 people including 13 US troops and deepening panic in the final days of an already frenzied evacuation effort from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The bombings, claimed by the Islamic State group, left scenes of carnage outside the airport where thousands of Afghans desperate to flee their country had massed.
They had swarmed around the airport despite a flurry of foreign government warnings — made just hours before — that a major terror attack was imminent.
- Joseph Gamp
HORROR SCENES AT KABUL AIRPORT
People waiting desperately for a space on a flight out of Afghanistan were seen carrying those who had been wounded to ambulances, their clothes covered in blood.
Desperate kids showed British passports at Kabul airport just hours before the terrorist blasts.
Three-year-old Tawid, his sister Asia, six, and their mum Sultan Zari had been among crowds trying to flee Afghanistan.
Sobbing Sultan said: “Getting to the UK is everything for us. this is hell on earth.”
It was not known last night if the family had been evacuated yet.
Bloodied survivors were raced from the scene in wheelbarrows, according to local TV news channels.
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