Afghan conflict: At least 5 people killed as thousands throng Kabul airport to leave country

Reuters quoted a witness saying he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle.    

At least five people were killed amid reports of heavy gunfiring at Kabul airport even as thousands of Afghans thronged the tarmac in an attempt forcibly board flights leaving Kabul. 

Reuters said it was not clear whether the victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede. Earlier, reports said US troops fired in the air as a massive crowd mobbed the airport's tarmac.

Reuters quoted a witness saying he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle.  

A US official told Reuters earlier that forces fired in the air at the airport to prevent hundreds of civilians running onto the tarmac. 

“The crowd was out of control,” the official told Reuters by phone. “The firing was only done to defuse the chaos.” 

The Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghanj fled the country and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war. 

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