Frantic Afghans try to flee, cling to US plane taking off

Scores of Afghans ran alongside a US military plane as it taxied on a runway at Kabul’s airport yesterday and several clung to the side in an apparent attempt to flee the Taliban-controlled capital, a video posted on social media showed.The footage shared by Afghanistan’s largest private broadcaster, Tolo news, highlighted the chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport after Taliban fighters entered Kabul following the withdrawal of foreign forces.Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage or reports that some people were killed falling from aircraft.At least five people were killed as the chaos mounted at the airport, according to witnesses, though one person waiting for a flight told Reuters it was unclear whether those killed had been shot or trampled in a stampede.US troops fired warning shots to stop people getting on flights taking out diplomats and embassy employees and two gunmen were also shot at the airport, US officials told Reuters.The flights were later halted because of the chaos, but there was no immediate comment on the deaths.Videos and photos posted on social media showed hundreds of civilians invading the airport’s runway, jostling to climb stairs onto overhead gangways and sitting on the top of passenger jets in the hope of getting a flight out.“This is our airport but we are seeing diplomats being evacuated while we wait in complete uncertainty,” said Rakhshanda Jilali, an Afghan human rights activist who was trying to get to Pakistan, told Reuters in a message from the airport.A US State Department spokesperson said all embassy personnel, including Ambassador Ross Wilson, had been transferred to the airport to await evacuation.One video showed a military helicopter flying low to pave a path for a plane trying to take off through crowds of people. Local news agency Asvaka reported that some people who had clung to the outside of a plane plunged to their deaths after it took off. Reuters could not verify the report or footage shared by the agency.One witness said he had seen five bodies piled up in a vehicle. A video posted on social media showed three bodies on the ground near what appeared to be an airport side entrance.Reuters could not verify the footage.