Around 150 People Mostly Indians Captured by Taliban at Kabul Airport

Around 150 people, many of whom are believed to be Indian citizens have been abducted by Taliban fighters from the outside gates of Kabul Airport on Saturday, according to a report by local media.

The report stated that the Foreign Ministry is trying to confirm this development and has not commented at this time.

The reported abduction comes hours after an Indian Air Force C-130J transport aircraft managed to evacuate around 85 Indians from Kabul; the plane has landed safely in Dushanbe in Tajikistan, sources said, adding that a second (larger C-17) aircraft was on standby for further evacuations.

Sources this morning had said that the government is trying to bring as many Indians as possible into the airport at Kabul to keep them safe while it works out the evacuation logistics.

India has evacuated all embassy staff but an estimated 1,000 citizens remain in several cities in the war-torn country, and ascertaining their location and condition is proving to be a challenge, a Home Ministry official had said, since not all of them registered themselves with the embassy, the report stated.

Among those are around 200 Sikhs and Hindus who have taken refuge at a gurudwara in Kabul.

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