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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Pippa Crerar & William Walker

Desperate Afghan mums throw babies over barbed wire begging soldiers to take them

A heart-breaking video has emerged appearing to show desperate Afghans try to hoist a baby over barbed wire in a frantic bid to escape the Taliban.

There have been harrowing scenes at the airport in Kabul as hundreds gathered on the tarmac in a desperate effort to flee Taliban rule.

Devastating videos show a crowd of people running alongside a US military plane as it moved to take off, with some clinging to its wheels.

Another image emerged showing a packed US plane filled with people desperate to escape Kabul after the militants seized the city.

The latest video was posted on social media and appears to show a large group of people pushing up against a barbed wire fence.

A soldier is pictured holding a child as parents try to flee the country (Sky News)

As the camera pans to the right a young child is seen to be lifted up into the air and pushed along, seemingly in a bid to move along the barbed wire.

One social media user who shared the footage said: "People are so desperate to escape the Taliban that they’re passing babies and kids forward to the gate at Kabul airport. "

An Afghan child sleeps on the cargo floor of a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III (US AIR FORCE/AFP via Getty Image)

Speaking to Sky News a senior officer described the heart-wrenching scenes from Kabul.

They said: "It was terrible, women were throwing their babies over the razor wire, asking the soldiers to take them, some got caught in the wire.

"I'm worried for my men, I'm counselling some, everyone cried last night."

The footage emerged on social media (Twitter)

A woman's plight was also detailed after she made it through the barricade grabbing on to her daughter's hand.

Fatima - not her real name - said her husband had joined the Taliban and had beat her as she tried to escape the country.

She said: "Afghanistan is Taliban. Taliban is terrorist. My husband is a terrorist Talib."

Evacuation efforts are ongoing in Kabul (Sky News)

Asked where she will go she answered: "Anywhere! Any country."

Taliban fighters are now said to be using guns, whips and sticks to stop Afghans getting to Kabul airport, forcing flights to leave half-empty.

Around 20,000 Afghan refugees will be given sanctuary in the UK in the next five years after the Government announced plans to help those fleeing the Taliban.

The UK has pledged to take in 20,000 Afghan refugees (Sky News)

But the Home Office was accused of failing to act urgently after it revealed just 5,000 Afghans would be relocated in the first year.

Home Secretary Priti Patel defended plans for the scheme to resettle vulnerable Afghans, claiming it was impossible to house 20,000 people “all in one go”.

But she hinted the scheme could be expanded to admit double the initial figure for the first year.

She said: “There could be up to 10,000. We are expanding categories of people.”

Local councils across the country have pledged to re-home refugees.

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