This handout photo courtesy of the US Air Force shows US Air Force loadmasters and pilots assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, load passengers aboard a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan,, August 24, 2021. – (Photo by Donald R. ALLEN / US AIR FORCE / AFP)

The United States urged its citizens Friday to “immediately” leave the gates around Kabul’s airport, where a suicide bomber this week targeted crowds trying to flee Taliban rule.

Earlier Friday, the Pentagon said that the high-risk Kabul airlift operation to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies still faced “specific, credible threats”.

“US citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the New Ministry of Interior gate now should leave immediately,” the US Embassy in Kabul said in a security alert.

“Because of security threats at the Kabul airport, we continue to advise US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates,” the embassy said.

The alert gave no further details on what the security threats might be, but it followed Thursday’s attack that killed scores of people including 13 US servicemen.

The blast claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group targeted US forces, but hit hardest the mass of people who had converged on the airport in a desperate bid to escape the Taliban’s feared hardline rule.