Biden goes to Dover Air Base to receive the coffins of the 13 soldiers killed in the Kabul attack

The president of United States, Joe Biden, is on his way to Dover Air Force Base (Delaware) to receive the coffins of the 13 soldiers killed in the Thursday’s airport bombing in Kabul, claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS-K) and in which more than 170 people lost their lives.

The White House announced Sunday morning a change in the president’s agenda and reported that he is already on his way to Dover, where he and the first lady, Jill Biden, are also scheduled to meet behind closed doors with the families of the deceased soldiers.

Biden and the first lady are dressed in black, as the group of journalists who always accompanies the US president could see.

The Dover Air Base (Delaware) is in charge of receiving the mortal remains of American soldiers who die abroad while carrying out their mission.

The mortal remains usually arrive in a coffin wrapped in an American flag, which is transported by members of the Armed Forces from the plane to a hearse, in the presence of the relatives of the deceased.

The ceremony takes place in silence and normally all you hear is the prayers of a priest.

Those killed in the attack on were between 20 and 31 years old, although most of them were in their twenties, the Pentagon revealed on Saturday.

Among those killed was a 20-year-old Marine from Wyoming who was to be a father in three weeks.

They were all children when the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to prevent the Taliban regime from continuing to harbor al-Qaeda terrorists and hunt down Osama Bin Laden, the “mastermind” of the September 11 attacks of that year and that he died in a US operation in Pakistan in 2011.

Of the 13 who died, 11 belonged to the Marine Corps, one to the Navy and another to the Army.

On Thursday, an alleged IS fighter detonated a vest with explosives while passing security checks at one of the entrances to the Kabul airport, the so-called Abbey Gate, where thousands of people gathered in the hope of being able to flee from the Taliban in one of the US flights.

After that explosion, there was another armed attack by jihadists in the area, according to the Pentagon.

The attack killed at least 170 people and left 150 injured, sources close to the Taliban told Efe in Kabul; while the Pentagon reported the death of 13 US soldiers and 18 wounded.