2 Journalists, 2 Athletes among Kabul airport explosion victims, say reports

Kabul: Two journalists, including a female TV anchor and two athletes, were among the victims of a deadly explosion at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 26, an independent media group reported on Sunday.

"Ali Reza Ahmadi, a reporter for Raha News Agency and Najma Sadeqi, former presenter at Jahan-e-Sihat TV channel were killed in the airport attack," Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) said in a Twitter post.

According to 1TVNewsAF, the Kabul airport bombing claimed the lives of two Afghan national-level athletes, Mohammad Jan Sultani of taekwondo and Idrees of wushu.

Nearly 200 people, including 13 US soldiers, were killed and hundreds of others wounded in the suicide blast that hit an eastern airport gate when huge crowds were waiting for evacuation flights. The victims have mostly been women and children.

IS-K, a local affiliate of the Islamic State terror group, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In retaliation for the deadly attack, the US military on August 27 launched a drone strike against the terror group in Nangarhar province, which killed two "high-profile" members and wounded another, according to the Pentagon.

In a new security alert issued early Sunday in Kabul, the US State Department had advised all American citizens to immediately leave three of the Kabul airport's gates and avoid travelling to the airport, citing a "specific, credible threat".The Department, however, did not reveal the nature of the threat.