Rocket attacks in Afghan capital killed 3, injured 16

At least three people were killed and 16 others were injured in a string of rocket attacks that hit the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday, authorities have announced.

Fourteen rockets were fired into Kabul’s heavily-fortified green zone on Tuesday as the country marked its 101^st independence anniversary. Witnesses said that same day that some of the rockets struck near the presidential palace — where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani a short while earlier took part in an independence day event — and the Defense Ministry.

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian provided the casualty toll on Wednesday.

Arian said two government employees had been among the three fatalities, without specifying who they were.

But two palace officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told AFP that the two had been members of Ghani’s honor guard.

Rocket attack hits Kabul on Afghanistan independence day

At least 10 civilians, including four children, are injured in the Afghan capital of Kabul in an attack with 14 rockets against the city’s heavily-fortified green zone.

Arian said four children and a woman were also among the 16 people injured.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took place a day after the government declared its refusal to release the last 320 Taliban prisoners that it holds until the militants free more captive Afghan soldiers.

The Daesh terrorist group has interrupted national celebrations in Afghanistan in the past with rocket fire.

Back in March, there were reports that the inauguration ceremony of the then-President-elect Ghani in Kabul was temporarily disrupted by the sound of a rocket explosion but that he was unharmed and continued to address the event. No serious injuries were reported at the time.

In March 2019, an event attended by Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai in Kabul was attacked with rockets, killing at least three people and injuring 22 others. The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group later claimed responsibility for that attack.

And in August 2018, multiple rockets were fired at the Afghan presidential palace, where Ghani was making a speech. Daesh claimed responsibility for that attack as well.

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