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20-12-2020
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report
KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: A major US air base north of Kabul was the target of a rocket attack at dawn on Saturday, but there were no casualties or damage at the airfield, officials said.
Five rockets were fired at Bagram airfield at 6 a.m., Parwan province spokeswoman Waheeda Shahkar said, adding that police defused seven more rockets mounted on a vehicle used in the attack. .
A NATO official also confirmed the assault.
“Rockets were fired at Bagram airfield this morning. Initial reports indicate that there were no casualties and the airfield was not damaged,” the official said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility, and the Taliban denied any involvement.
The jihadist group Islamic State previously claimed responsibility for a similar rocket attack on the base in April.
In recent months, ISIS has claimed responsibility for several assaults on Kabul, including two deadly rocket attacks that hit residential areas in the capital.
The group also claimed responsibility for brutal attacks on two separate education centers in Kabul that killed dozens of people, most of them students.
Saturday’s attack came a day after 15 children were killed when an explosives-laden motorcycle exploded near a religious rally in eastern Ghazni province.
Afghan officials blamed the Taliban for the explosion.
Violence has exploded in Afghanistan in recent months despite the launch by the government and the Taliban of peace talks to end the country’s bitter war.
The Taliban have carried out near-daily attacks against Afghan forces that have left hundreds of people dead or injured in the security sector.
Attacks by militants have killed nearly 500 civilians and injured more than 1,000 others in the past three months, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
Earlier this week in Qatar, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a rare meeting with representatives of the Taliban, calling on them to reduce violence in Afghanistan.
