KABUL: At least three people were wounded after several rockets were firedinto Kabul on Tuesday, police said, but there was no immediate claim ofresponsibility for the latest attack on the Afghan capital.
“Three rockets were fired on Kabul city from an unknown direction and… hitresidential areas near the mountains in PD5 (police district),” policespokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said.
Three civilians were wounded in the attacks and police have been deployedto find the launch site, Stanikzai added.
An *AFP* reporter heard what appeared to be a fourth explosion, but thatcould not be immediately confirmed by police.
The rocket attacks came two days after a suicide bomber blew himself upnear Kabul international airport, killing at least 23 people, including*AFP* driver Mohammad Akhtar. A further 107 people were wounded.
Sunday’s attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which said it hadtargeted Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, who returned to Kabulafter more than a year in exile.
Scores of government officials, political leaders and supporters had goneto the airport to welcome home Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek leader andformer warlord.
Dostum was unharmed in the attack, his armoured vehicle having alreadywhisked him away when the bomber struck.Ordinary Afghans have borne the brunt of the grinding 17-year war that hasturned Kabul into one of the most dangerous places in the country forcivilians.
Militant attacks and suicide bombs were the leading causes of civiliandeaths in the first half of 2018, a recent UN report showed.The total number of civilians killed was 1,692, the highest number for theperiod since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan begankeeping records in 2009.
Another 3,430 people were wounded, the report said.
Suicide bombs and “complex” attacks that involve several militantsaccounted for 1,413 casualties — 427 deaths and 986 injuries — up 22percent from a year earlier.
If that trend continues, the figure will top the 2017 full-year record ofnearly 2,300 casualties. – APP/AFP