KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Rocket fire apparently aimed at Kabul International Airport on Monday attacked a nearby neighborhood, on the eve of the deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from the country’s longest war after the capture of the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was not immediately known if anyone was injured.
The rockets did not stop the steady flow of U.S. C-17 cargo aircraft taking off and landing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in the Afghan capital. No group was immediately responsible for the attack. Last week, the Islamic State group launched a devastating suicide bombing at one of the airport gates that killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 members of the US service.
The airport has been repeatedly the scene of chaos in the two weeks following the blitz storm in Afghanistan that took control of the country, almost 20 years after the first US invasion that followed the terrorist attacks in the United States. ’11 September. But since the suicide bombing, the Taliban have tightened the security cordon around the airfield, with their fighters to the last fence separating them from the runway.
In the capital’s Chahr-e-Shaheed neighborhood, a crowd quickly gathered around the wreckage of a four-door sedan used by the attackers, which had what appeared to be six tubes of homemade rockets mounted where they should be. be the back seat. The Islamic State group and other militants routinely mount these tubes in vehicles and transport them quietly without being detected near a target.
“I was inside the house with my children and other family members, suddenly there were some explosions,” said Jaiuddin Khan, who lives nearby. “We jumped on the grounds of the house and stayed on the ground.”
Some of the rockets landed in the city of Kabul’s Salim Karwan neighborhood, striking blocks of residential apartments, witnesses said. This neighborhood is about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the airport. No injuries were reported immediately.
Five rockets aimed at the airport, said U.S. Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s Central Command. A defensive weapon known by the acronym C-RAM – a system of counter-rockets, artillery and mortar – aimed rockets with a large barrage of ammunition, Urban said. The system has a different sound and resembles a drill that resounded through the city at the time of the attack.
In Washington, the White House issued a statement saying officials had informed President Joe Biden of the “rocket attack on Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport”, apparently referring to the launch of vehicle-based rockets that morning.
“The President was informed that operations continue uninterruptedly at HKIA and has reaffirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground,” the statement said, using the acronym Kabul airport.
After the rocket fire, the planes continued to land and taxis to the military side of the airport. The planes took off approximately every 20 minutes at one point on Monday morning.
Throughout Monday, smoke from various fires could be seen along the perimeter of the airport. It was unclear what was on fire, although U.S. forces typically destroy material and equipment that will not be taken away during the evacuation.
The airport had been one of the few exits for foreigners and Afghans fleeing the Taliban acquisition. However, coalition nations have halted their evacuations in recent days, leaving the U.S. military alone at the base, with some remaining allied Afghan forces providing security.
Ross Wilson, business manager of the U.S. embassy in Kabul now working outside the airport, insisted the evacuations continued in a Twitter message.
“This is a high-risk operation,” Wilson wrote. “Claims that embassy staff or U.S. forces have denied access to U.S. citizens or denied access to HKIA.” He did not elaborate.
The U.S. State Department on Sunday released a statement signed by nearly 100 countries, as well as by NATO and the European Union, that they had received “guarantees” from the Taliban that people with travel documents could leave the country.
The Taliban have said they will allow normal travel once the U.S. withdrawal ends on Tuesday and take control of the airport. However, it is not yet clear how the militants will run the airport and which commercial companies will start flying in the field, given the security concerns that exist.
While the Taliban have honored their commitment not to attack Western forces while evacuating on Tuesday, the threat of the local Islamic State affiliate remains a danger. The group, known as Khorasan Province with the region’s historic name, saw some of its members released as the Taliban released prisoners across the country during their inauguration.
On Sunday, a U.S. drone strike detonated a vehicle carrying Islamic State suicide bombers before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul airport, U.S. officials said. However, the Taliban said the strike killed at least ten people, including civilians and three children, angering civilian casualties.
Urban acknowledged reports of civilian casualties.
“We would be deeply saddened by any possible loss of innocent lives,” he said in a statement.
The United States conducted another drone strike elsewhere in the country on Saturday that said it killed two members of the Islamic State.
On Tuesday, the United States will conclude a two-week massive airlift of more than 114,000 Afghans and foreigners and withdraw the last of its troops, ending America’s longest-running war with the Taliban back in power.
However, Afghans continue to fear that the Taliban will return to the oppressive rule by which it was previously known. There have been sporadic reports of killings and other abuses across the country.
Meanwhile, a cross-border shooting across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border killed two Pakistani soldiers, the military said. Pakistani troops “responded appropriately” after the attack on the Bajur district of the country’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said.
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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, UAE, Rahim Faiez in Istanbul, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, and Robert Burns and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.