A army investigation into the assault on the Kabul, Afghanistan airport concluded a suicide bomber acted alone and it was not the advanced assault that officers beforehand believed.

The August 26 assault at Abbey Gate killed 13 U.S. service members, together with 11 U.S. Marines, one sailor and one soldier, and 170 Afghans trying to go away the nation after the Taliban regained energy following the U.S. exit. Forty-five service members have been additionally wounded within the blast.

"A single, explosive machine killed no less than 170 Afghan civilians and 13 U.S. servicemembers by explosively directing ball bearings by means of a packed crowd and into our women and men at Abbey gate," stated Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, on the Pentagon on Friday.

Investigators additionally believed the assault was not preventable because the bomber used facet roads to bypass the Taliban and checkpoints. On the time of the assault, many Afghans used various routes to achieve Abbey Gate because the Taliban would usually beat Afghans caught attempting to go away, in line with CNN.

Officers concluded that the blast prompted prompt chaos, however all these killed and wounded have been moved to triage websites inside 20 minutes.

McKenzie additionally stated the investigation revealed five-millimeter ball bearings within the bomb prompted the injuries which they initially believed have been gunshots and led them to consider there might have been a couple of individual concerned.

"We now know that the explosively-fired ball bearings prompted wounds that regarded like gunshots, and when mixed with a small variety of warning photographs, that led many to imagine that a advanced assault had occurred."

Abbey Gate Military Investigation
A U.S. Army investigation concluding that the August assault at Abbey Gate that killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans was carried out by a suicide bomber. HAMID KARZAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 22: This handout picture reveals A Marine with the twenty fourth Marine Expeditionary unit (MEU) passes out water to evacuees throughout an evacuation at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 22. U.S. service members are aiding the Division of State with a Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) in Afghanistan. Sgt. Isaiah Campbell / U.S. Marine Corps/Getty Pictures

Though gunshots have been reported, the investigation decided U.S. and British troops fired warning photographs, however nobody was killed or injured. The investigation discovered one Marine fired at an grownup man who was allegedly holding an AK-47, ProPublica reported.

Whereas the investigators decided nobody suffered from gunshot wounds, Dr. Hares Aref, a senior surgeon at Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in Kabul, informed ProPublica he personally operated on sufferers with bullet wounds.

"We had sufferers with bullet damage on this assault, it is clear," Aref stated.

McKenzie stated they spoke with greater than 100 folks to conduct the investigation.

The press launch from the U.S. Central Command additionally included three movies, one from drone footage minutes after the blast, one other that includes a gaggle of marines being pulled right into a crowd at Abbey Gate, and one other one that includes two Marines proper earlier than the blast. In line with the AP, investigators wanting on the video see a single individual wearing all black, which they consider to be the bomber.

Army officers additionally concluded that opposite to preliminary experiences, there was sufficient army and medical presence on the bottom, together with 9 surgical groups, in line with the AP.