At least five people were killed at Kabul airport on Monday, reports Reuters. This comes a day after Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul. Ever since the takeover, thousands of people have gathered at the airport trying to leave the country. 

Earlier, the US troops, who are in charge of the airport, fired in the air to scatter the crowd. Officials were not immediately available to comment on the deaths.  

On Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani and his close aides fled the Afghan capital city for an undisclosed location. “I feel very scared here. They are firing lots of shots into the air,” news agency AFP quoted a witness as saying.

The US has announced to deploy 6,000 troops at the Kabul airport to ensure safe departure of those departing the country, including its embassy personnel and citizens.

The US troops will be taking “over air traffic control” to transfer out of the country “thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the US mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” the statement said.

Also Read | US, 65 nations urge Taliban to let Afghans leave the country

Nearly 2,000 of the Afghans eligible for US Special Immigrant Visas have already arrived in the US over the past two weeks. “For all categories, Afghans who have cleared security screening will continue to be transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional locations for those yet to be screened,” the statement said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a series of calls to allies including India which has reportedly put a military transport aircraft on standby for evacuation of its embassy staff and citizens.

ALSO READ: Indian Air Force’s C-17 on standby for Afghanistan evacuation

The US is among more than 60 countries that issued a joint statement calling for the protection of human life and property.