GUNFIRE at Kabul airport killed at least one Afghan soldier today as chaotic efforts continued to evacuate Western troops and people fleeing the Taliban takeover.

Taliban fighters in the north of the Afghan capital pushed forward to eliminate armed resistance groups.

Taliban officials claimed that the Islamist movement’s forces had retaken three districts seized by their opponents the day before and had surrounded Panjshir, the last province remaining outside their control.

On Sunday evening, at least seven Afghans died in a panicked stampede of people trying to enter the airport as the Taliban fired into the air to drive crowds back.

Those who died were trampled, suffocated or suffered heart attacks.

Since Afghanistan’s security forces disintegrated in the face of the Taliban advance, despite 20 years of Western support, tens of thousands of Afghans have sought to flee the movement’s brutal rule, with Kabul airport being the main route out of the country.

Today, the German military tweeted that one member of the Afghan army had been killed and three others wounded by “unknown attackers.”

An Italian humanitarian organisation that operates hospitals in Afghanistan said that it had treated six patients with bullet wounds from the airport.

Last week, footage showing Afghans trying to cling to departing US military transport planes and falling to their deaths shocked the world, increasing anger and calls for urgent action by the governments of Western countries, including Britain.

The Taliban blames the chaotic scenes on the US military, claiming that there is no need for civilians to flee as they will not seek revenge on those who have worked with the US, Nato or the toppled Afghan government.

But its fighters have violently suppressed protests and beat people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport perimeter.

There have also been reports in recent days of the Taliban hunting down opposition members and workers.

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would not rule out prolonging the evacuation beyond August 31, the date he had set for completing the withdrawal of his country’s forces.

In London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to press Mr Biden for an extension so that British forces are not left unsupported.

But Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen described the date as a “red line,” threatening that any continuation of the US presence would “provoke a reaction.”