Number of deaths of victims of NATO to the Kabul airport shooting rises to 9 - Xinhua

(Kabul, April 27, Xinhua) - dead of-led NATO International Assistance Security Force (ISAF) in the shootout at Kabul airport on Wednesday reached nine, a statement of the published military alliance said here.

"Eight soldiers of the International Assistance Force to the security and civilian of the ISAF die after a shooting here today," confirmed the statement.

However, he did not identify the nationalities of the victims, saying that it is the policy of the ISAF to postpone casualty identification procedures to the competent national authorities.

In the previous statement, the alliance has developed the number of victims has suffered in the incident which happened in the Afghan Air Corps just six soldiers from 11: 00 local time.

Earlier, the Afghan Defence Ministry confirmed in a statement this shooting between an Afghan driver and his colleagues abroad to Afghan Air Corps which located in the western part of Kabul airport left a number of dead and wounded.

Afghan Ministry of defence in the statement also noted that more details would be published after the end of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Taliban militants, fight against Afghan troops and NATO-led by Afghanistan claimed responsibility, saying the incident by a Loyalist Taliban nine foreigners and five Afghan soldiers were killed.

Special report: Afghanistan Situation

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Gunman kills the troops of the NATO to Kabul airport

Kabul--NATO members eight service and a contractor were shot and killed by an army officer Afghan, on Wednesday, while participating in a meeting of foreign and Afghan officers on the military side of Kabul International AirportAccording to statements by Afghan and NATO spokesman.

The filming took place at a meeting between American and Afghan officials, said colonel Bahader, a spokesman for the Afghan Army Air Corps. NATO did not confirm the nationality of the soldiers. None of the dead were Afghan troops, said General Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry.

The gunman, according to senior aid to the Afghan army, was an old officer named Hamid Gul, who had been trained in 30 years when the Soviet Union occupied the country. The Afghan army refused to speculate on his motives. "You can read the mind of a person,", said Colonel Bahader, who like many Afghans, uses only one name. He described a chaotic scene in which some soldiers and officers flee dam bullets, jumping from second and third floor windows.

"They had suffered minor injuries, and some were injured with broken glass," said.

The Taliban claim responsibility for the attack, but identified the assailant as a Taliban militant of a district of Kabul Province named Azizullah. A spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a telephone interview that the aggressor "" lived in Kabul and he is wearing an Afghan military uniform, and when it short of ammunition, he was killed by foreign and Afghan soldiers. ""

In April, five Americans were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his charge at a joint meeting of Afghan-NATO to an Afghan army base in the Province of Laghman. Last November, six border police officers were killed by an officer of the ROE Afghan army. It was the fourth incident in the past two weeks, in which a person wearing a uniform of the Afghan security force attacked with in a Government compound.

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Tornadoes Tear through St. Louis, close airport

The damage forced the airport to stop, but officials have said that they expect some inbound flights to land Saturday evening. They also hope to be operating at 70 percent of the usual capacity on Sunday.

In a press conference Saturday, Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, Director of the airport, said that the airfield is fully functional.

"We will not have the prettiest airport tomorrow, but we will have an airport operations,", said Ms. Hamm-Niebruegge.

Mayor Francis Slay said he hoped that the airport would be up to full capacity in the middle of the week.

Half the Windows have been blown in a section of the airport, and large pieces of the roof have peeled away by the wind in another. Debris and broken glass were scattered across terminals and runways.

Dianna Merrill, 43, "Glass blowing everywhere", said Associated Press. Ms. Merrill was waiting at the airport, when the storm hit.

"The ceiling has been falling," she said. "The glass hit us in the face." Rain and hail came. The wind blew debris everywhere. It was in a horror film. Grown men were crying. "It was horrible."

Despite the destruction, there was no deaths or serious injuries resulting from the storm.

"We were very lucky to this end," said Jeff Lea, a spokesman for the airport.

The National Weather Service confirmed at least three tornadoes in the area, with winds of more than 165 miles per hour. Representatives at the press conference said Saturday that storm Friday caused outages of 47,000 in Missouri and damaged 750 homes in the region.

"I heard a snap on the stairs and I knew that something was wrong, said Chad Carroll, 28, whose house in Maryland Heights was destroyed as he and his family cowered in the basement." "I looked and I thought I saw the wallpaper in my kitchen, but it was the sky."

On Saturday, the closure of St. Louis Airport had delays caused not elsewhere within the country, said a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

"I have not seen all the questions,", said Tony Molinaro, a spokesman for the Agency. "It is early in the morning, a Saturday, and all that is lighter, a Saturday." It is also not a hub airport. ?

Airport St. Louis - an important building in the middle of the century designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect who designed the World Trade Center - about 250 departures each day, about half the departures, there 10 years, Mr. Lea said. Last year, he was the 57th airport in the country.

Although a cool breeze took her through the domestic airport Saturday cleaning was already well advanced. In the afternoon, numerous barricaded Windows with plywood, mats soaked shot away, and Mr. Molinaro said the flight Tower is operational. Most of the damage was limited to a terminal.

A barn of fuel nearby was also damaged, but Ms. Hamm-Niebruegge said that had not created a security problem.

Airport officials have said that they would ask federal, State and local assistance with the cost of repairs.

"Obviously it's millions of dollars," said Ms. Hamm-Niebruegge. "But we have an estimate for this yet."

The storm which closed the airport caused thunderstorms in Texas, Ohio, and 24 tornadoes were identified in five States.

But St. Louis has been the most severely affected.

"Certainly yesterday was a strong enough impact," said Chris Vaccaro, a National spokesman for the Meteorological Service. "I can't remember the last time an airport was hit and this affected severely."

Malcolm Gay reported of St. Louis and Elizabeth a. Harris in New York. A. g. Sulzberger contributed reports from St. Louis.

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