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Islamic State has claimed responsibility for twin attacks at Kabul airport that killed more than 70 people and injured twice as many.

Suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of the airport with at least two explosions, causing a bloodbath among civilians and United States troops and effectively shutting down the Western airlift of Afghans desperate to flee.

Afghan officials say at least 60 of their civilians were killed and 143 injured in the attacks that took place late on Thursday afternoon.

At last count, 12 US service members were thought to have been killed in the blasts - 11 Marines and one Navy medic, according to two US officials.

Video images uploaded by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies of people killed in packed crowds outside the airport.

A watery ditch by the airport fence was filled with blood-soaked corpses, some being fished out and laid in heaps on the canal side while wailing civilians searched for loved ones.

Several Western countries said the airlift of civilians was now effectively over, with the US having sealed the gates of the airport leaving no way out for tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the West through two decades of war.

A Taliban official said at least 13 people including children had been killed in the attack and 52 were wounded, though it was clear from video footage that those figures were far from complete. One surgical hospital run by an Italian charity said it alone was treating more than 60 wounded.

The explosions took place amid the crowds outside the airport who have been massing for days in hope of escaping in an airlift which the United States says will end by Tuesday, following the swift capture of the country by the Taliban.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, but US officials pointed the finger at Islamic State's Afghan affiliate, which has emerged as enemies of both the West and of the Taliban.

A witness who gave his name as Jamshed said he went to the airport in the hope of getting a visa for the United States.

"There was a very strong and powerful suicide attack, in the middle of the people. Many were killed, including Americans," he said.

Zubair, a 24-year-old civil engineer, who had been trying for a nearly week to get inside the airport with a cousin who had papers authorising him to travel to the US, said he was 50 metres from the first of two suicide bombers who detonated explosives at the gate.

"Men, women and children were screaming. I saw many injured people - men, women and children - being loaded into private vehicles and taken toward the hospitals," he said. After the explosions there was gunfire.

The explosion at the Abbey Gate was the result of a "complex attack" that resulted in many US and civilian casualties, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Twitter.

At least one other explosion detonated at or near the Baron Hotel, a short distance from Abbey Gate.

Taliban official Suhail Shaheen said there were two explosions in a crowded area managed by US forces.

"We strongly condemn this gruesome incident and will take every step to bring the culprits to justice."

The Taliban did not identify the attackers, but a spokesman described it as the work of "evil circles" who would be suppressed once the foreign troops leave.

The US and its allies had been urging civilians to stay away from the airport on Thursday, citing the threat of an Islamic State suicide attack.

In the past 12 days, western countries have evacuated nearly 100,000 people, mostly Afghans who helped them. But they say many thousands more will be left behind following US President Joe Biden's order to pull out all troops by August 31.

The last few days of the airlift will mostly be used to withdraw the remaining troops. Canada and some European countries have already announced the end of their airlifts, while publicly lamenting Biden's abrupt pullout.

"The doors at the airport are now closed and it is no longer possible to get people in," Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said on Thursday.

"We wish we could have stayed longer and rescued everyone," the acting chief of Canada's defence staff, General Wayne Eyre said.

Biden ordered all troops out of Afghanistan by the end of the month to comply with a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban negotiated by his predecessor Donald Trump. He spurned calls this week from European allies for more time.

The abrupt collapse of the Western-backed government in Afghanistan caught US officials by surprise and risks reversing gains, especially in the rights of women and girls, millions of whom have been going to school and work, once forbidden under the Taliban.

Biden has defended the decision to leave, saying US forces could not stay indefinitely. But his critics say the US force had been reduced in recent years to just a few thousand troops, no longer involved in fighting on the ground.

Those that were killed on Thursday were the first to die in action in Afghanistan in 18 months.

Violence from Islamic State creates a headache for the Taliban who have promised that their victory will bring peace to Afghanistan at last.

Fighters claiming allegiance to Islamic State began appearing in eastern Afghanistan at the end of 2014 and have established a reputation for extreme brutality.

© RAW 2021

A twin suicide bombing attack in Kabul claimed by Islamic State has killed 12 US troops and wounded 15 others, a top US general says, adding that American forces anticipated more attacks even as evacuations continued from Afghanistan.

Thursday's attack marked the first US military casualties in Afghanistan since February 2020 and represented the deadliest incident for American troops in the country in a decade.

At least two explosions tore through crowds that had thronged the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport desperate to leave Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power almost two weeks ago ahead of US President Joe Biden's August 31 deadline to withdraw American troops after two decades.

In a statement, the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State - known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) - claimed responsibility and said one of its suicide bombers had targeted "translators and collaborators with the American army".

Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, head of the US military's Central Command, told a news briefing the explosions were followed by gunfight. McKenzie said the threat from Islamic State persists alongside "other active threat streams".

"We believe it is their desire to continue these attacks and we expect those attacks to continue - and we're doing everything we can to be prepared," McKenzie said.

McKenzie added that future potential attacks could include rockets being fired at the airport or car bombs attempting to get in. McKenzie said he saw nothing that would convince him that Taliban forces had let the attack take place.

US officials said one bomb detonated near the airport's Abbey Gate and the other was close to the nearby Baron Hotel.

A massive airlift of US and other foreign nationals and their families as well as some Afghans has been under way since the day before Taliban forces captured Kabul on August 15, capping a swift advance across the country as American and allied troops withdrew.

The US has been racing to carry out the airlift before its military is set to fully withdraw from the country by August 31. McKenzie said the evacuation mission was not going to stop.

"I think we can continue to conduct our mission, even while we are receiving attacks like this," McKenzie said, adding that US forces will go after the perpetrators of Thursday's attack.

McKenzie said there were about 1000 US citizens estimated to be still in Afghanistan. A spokesman for the State Department said more than two-thirds of these Americans had informed it they were taking steps to leave Afghanistan.

Islamic State militants have emerged in Afghanistan as enemies both of the West and the Taliban. A 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Taliban from power after the group had harboured the al Qaeda militants responsible for the September 11 attacks on the US. The US military death toll in the Afghanistan war since 2001 stood at about 2500.

Afghan health officials were quoted as saying 60 civilians died, but it was not clear whether that was a complete count. Video uploaded by Afghan journalists showed dozens of bodies and wounded victims strewn around a canal on the edge of the airport.

US officials have said there are about 5200 American troops providing airport security. The attacks came after the United States and allies had urged Afghans to leave the area around the airport because of a threat by Islamic State.

The US Embassy in Kabul a day earlier had advised Americans to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately, citing unspecified "security threats."

The US and its allies have mounted one of the biggest air evacuations in history, bringing out about 95,700 people, including 13,400 on Wednesday, according to the White House.

© RAW 2021

Gold Coast coach Justin Holbrook has bemoaned his team's decision-making at the death after they crashed to a crucial 15-14 loss to Newcastle.

A disappointed Holbrook admitted Thursday night's loss to the Knights was heartbreaking, with the Titans now facing an uphill battle to return to the finals.

Realistically, they must now beat Warriors in their final game next Sunday, and hope both Canberra and Cronulla drop at least one game each in the final two rounds.

They will also need to make up some for-and-against ground on Cronulla, who have a Melbourne side in the final round that is almost certain to rest players en masse.

But different permutations were the last thing on Holbrook's mind on Thursday night.

Instead he was miffed at his team's set up for a late field goal shot, with the ball thrown so far back to centre Patrick Herbert that he had to take the kick from 40 metres out.

"Patty backs himself a lot so he was always confident in it," Holbrook said.

"I don't know why we had to throw it 20 metres backwards for it (though). They are the things we have to get better at and that's why we didn't win."

Herbert's shot went wide to the right, before Newcastle had their first shot charged down before Mitchell Pearce stepped up and nailed his for the Knights win.

And while Thursday night's loss was a hammer blow, the Titans only have themselves to blame for the position they are in.

Expected to be the biggest movers of all teams in 2021, Gold Coast have been left to rue poor defensive outputs throughout the season.

They have conceded the most points of any team in the finals hunt, having let in 30 or more points in nine of their 23 games.

Gold Coast have not played in the finals since 2010, while their last win in a finals match was in 2009.

© AAP 2021