Washington, Aug 27 (AP) The State Department says it is tracking roughly 1,000 American citizens who it believes may still be in Afghanistan, as evacuation efforts proceed despite deadly suicide attacks outside the Kabul airport.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said Wednesday that some 1,500 US citizens were still thought to be in the country but the department said Thursday that it confirmed about 500 of them had been evacuated.

Also Read | Kabul Blasts: Joe Biden Meets US Top Officials as Twin Blasts Rock Afghanistan Capital City Amid Evacuations.

In the meantime, it said another 500 people claiming to be Americans wanting to leave had gotten in touch with the US Embassy but that it expected the majority of them would turn out not to be US citizens.

Of the 1,000 Americans the department believes to be in Afghanistan, it said about 75% were making preparations to leave. (AP)

Also Read | Kabul Blasts: 2 Explosions Near Airport Rock Afghanistan Capital as Thousands Try to Flee Country After Taliban Takeover, At least 40 Dead; What We Know So Far.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)