Two Brits among dead in Islamic State Kabul airport attack: FM Raab

UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said '[t]hese were innocent people', hitting out at them having been 'murdered by cowardly terrorists'.
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UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab revealed the British deaths in a statement [JEFF GILBERT/POOL/AFP/Getty]

Two British nationals and the child of a third British national were killed in Thursday's attack at Kabul airport, UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said on Friday.

"These were innocent people and it is a tragedy that as they sought to bring their loved ones to safety in the UK they were murdered by cowardly terrorists," Raab said in a statement.

The Kabul airport attack on Thursday, which killed at least 79 Afghans as well as 13 US troops was claimed by Islamic State militants. The Islamic State's Afghan affiliate, ISIS-Khorosan, has emerged as an enemy of both the West and of the Taliban.

Two further British nationals were injured in the attack, Raab added.

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"Yesterday's despicable attack underlines the dangers facing those in Afghanistan and reinforces why we are doing all we can to get people out," he said.

Defence Minister Ben Wallace said earlier on Friday that Britain would not accept any more people for flights out of Kabul beyond those already inside the airport.

Wallace said Britain was preparing the last 1,000 people inside the airfield who would fly out on Friday as it winds down its 20-year presence in Afghanistan.

(Reuters)