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Multiple rockets hit Afghan capital Kabul, clashes underway: AFP
KABUL, Aug 21, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Multiple rockets hit near the diplomatic
area in the Afghan capital Kabul early Tuesday, as officials said fighting
had broken out between security forces and militants in the city’s old
quarter.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, which
came just days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered the Taliban a
three-month ceasefire.
Military helicopters were firing above the Eidgah Mosque in Reka Khana
district, where smoke was rising as police and the interior ministry said
clashes were underway, amid a heavy security presence near the Kabul Stadium.
“This morning a group of terrorists took over a building in Reka Khana and
fired several rockets towards Kabul,” interior ministry spokesman Najib
Danish told AFP.
“Two people have been wounded. Security forces are fighting the
terrorists.”
Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai confirmed that fighting was
underway near the mosque, and said he could not confirm casualties yet.
“Police have cordoned off the area,” he said.
Ghani unveiled the government’s latest ceasefire gambit during an
Independence Day address late Sunday, saying security forces would observe
the truce beginning this week — but only if the militants reciprocated.
The truce offer was welcomed by the United States and NATO after nearly 17
years of war, but the Taliban have yet to respond.
The move followed an extraordinarily violent week in Afghanistan that saw
that Taliban storm the provincial capital of Ghazni — just a two-hour drive
from Kabul — and press the fight against security forces across the country,
with estimates suggesting hundreds of people may have been killed.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1327 hrs