A former Royal Marine who runs an animal shelter in Afghanistan says he and his staff were caught up in the aftermath of the explosion near the Kabul airport.

 

Paul 'Pen'' Farthing said the group was outside the airport when the blast occurred on Thursday.

 

'We're fine but everything is chaos here at the moment,'' he told Britain's Press Association news agency. 'All of a sudden we heard gunshots and our vehicle was targeted, had our driver not turned around he would have been shot in the head by a man with an AK-47.

 

'We've been in the airport, and back out of the airport; the whole thing's a mess,'' he added.

 

Farthing is trying to get staff of his Nowzad charity out of Afghanistan, along with the group's rescued animals. They have been stuck outside Kabul's airport as they try to get a flight out.

 

He spoke as reports emerged of two suicide bombings outside the airport that killed at least 13 people and wounded another 15. U.S. officials meanwhile have said that American personnel were wounded in the blast, without elaborating.