Taliban rockets hit Kabul presidential palace

KABUL (AP) — The Taliban fired a pair of rockets yesterday toward the presidential palace in Kabul as the Afghan president was delivering his holiday message for the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha, police said, prompting a ferocious aerial response with helicopter gunships bombing the house from where the rockets were reportedly launched.

The first rocket landed somewhere near the presidency building while the second hit near a NATO compound and the US embassy but no one was hurt, said police official Jan Agha.

The boom of the rockets was heard in the live broadcast of President Ashraf Ghani’s speech. As he also heard the thud, Ghani interrupted his message to say: “If they are thinking the rocket attack will keep Afghans down, they are wrong.”

The Kabul area where the rockets hit is one of the most secure in the Afghan capital, where embassies and government buildings are surrounded by high cement blast walls and coils of razor wire. Many streets near the US embassy are closed off, as well as those near sensitive government and military locations.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzia said Afghan police had noticed a suspicious vehicle earlier yesterday morning and followed it to a mud-brick house near the sprawling Eid Gah mosque where hundreds had gathered to offer their prayers for the Eid alAdha holiday.