MULTIPLE ROCKETS HIT AFGHAN CAPITAL KABUL, 8 CIVILIANS KILLED

Sat 21 November 2020:

A rocket barrage slammed into the heavily fortified Green Zone where many embassies and international firms are based in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least eight civilians and wounding dozens more on Saturday.

Tariq Arian, spokesman for the interior ministry, said “terrorists” mounted the rockets on a small truck and set them off, adding an investigation was under way to find out how the vehicle came inside the city undetected.

A vehicle used in this morning’s rocket attack on Kabul city.

“Based on initial information eight people were martyred and 31 others were wounded,” Arian said, noting the final toll would change.

Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz confirmed the same tolls and details.

Some residents filmed the projectiles being launched and posted them on social media. Several images circulating on Facebook showed damaged cars and a hole in the side of a building.

Taliban fighters, battling against a foreign-backed Kabul administration, denied involvement in the attack saying they “do not blindly fire on public places”.

“The rocket attack in Kabul city has nothing to do with the mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, using the insurgents’ name for Afghanistan.

The barrage sent warning sirens blaring from embassy compounds and came two days before a major donor conference for Afghanistan in Geneva, Switzerland.

The interior ministry also said two small “sticky bomb” explosions had been reported earlier Saturday, including one that hit a police car, killing one policeman and wounding three others.