At least five people have been reportedly killed in a mass panic at Kabul airport on Monday, even after Taliban proclaim peaceful transition according to Reuters.

Thousands of people tried to flee a day after Taliban insurgents seized the Afghan capital and declared war against foreign and local forces over. It was not immediately clear how the victims died. A U.S. official said troops had fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way onto a military flight that was set to take U.S diplomats and embassy staff out of the fallen city.

In a social media video, three bodies could be seen on the ground near what appeared to be an airport side entrance. The video was shared by Afghan news agency TOLOnews and has not been independently verified.

The frantic disorder included people swarming around and clinging to a U.S. military transport plane as it taxied on the runway, according to footage posted by a media company.

US officials told Reuters they were “forced to fire into the air to prevent Afghans running onto the tarmac to board military flights”.

The official said the flights are “only meant to ferry diplomats, foreign staff, and local embassy staff”.

People thronged to Kabul airport from late on Sunday, wandering around the runways in the dark, pulling luggage and jostling for a place on one of the last commercial flights to leave before U.S. forces took over air traffic control.

On Monday, dozens of men tried to clamber onto an overhead departure gangway to board a plane while hundreds of others milled about, a social media video showed. Another post showed men inspecting a body on a roof of a person who had allegedly tried to stow away in the undercarriage of an aircraft and fallen to his death. Reuters could not verify the footage.

U.S. forces gave up their big military base at Bagram, 60 km north of Kabul, several weeks ago, leaving Kabul’s airport their only way out, to the anger of many Afghans. There was the prospect of chaos in the skies over Afghanistan too. Its civil aviation authority advised transit aircraft to re-route, saying its air space was now uncontrolled.

The Pentagon on Sunday authorized another 1,000 troops to help evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who worked for them, expanding its security presence on the ground to almost 6,000 troops within the next 48 hours.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Monday that all embassy personnel, including Ambassador Ross Wilson, had been transferred to Kabul airport, mostly by helicopter, to await evacuation, and the American flag had been lowered and removed from the embassy compound.

Western nations, including France, Germany, and New Zealand, said they were working to get citizens as well as some Afghan employees out.

In Washington, opponents of President Joe Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said the chaos was caused by a failure of leadership.

Biden has faced rising domestic criticism after sticking to a plan, initiated by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, to end the U.S. military mission by Aug. 31.

Britain’s defense secretary; Ben Wallace told BBC Breakfast on Monday morning: “We flew out 370 staff and British citizens, eligible personnel yesterday and the day before and we’ll continue to engage those flights.

“The next group of Afghans to come out will be 782 and we’ll make sure we get them in the next 24 to 36 hours out of the country and are continuing to process those people.”

“We will do everything we can to bring as many people out as possible.”

Wallace who also spoke to Sky News said British and NATO force would not be returning to fight the Taliban “that’s not on the cards,” he said.