Multiple rockets fired at Kabul airport intercepted by missile defence system, says US official

Multiple rockets were fired at Kabul’s international airport but were intercepted by a missile defence system, a US official told Reuters.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said as many as 5 rockets were fired, though it was not clear if all were brought down by the defence system.

No casualties among US troops and civilians have been reported so far, Reuters said.

The rockets reportedly struck Kabul’s Salim Karwan neighbourhood. The explosion was followed by gunfire from unknown sources immediately.

Residents in Afghanistan took to Twitter to show the remnants of rockets fired which fell off their roof. Preliminary visuals also showed clouds of black smoke billowing from a residential area. One Twitter user, citing a witness, said that the “rocket exploded in the air and shrapnel’s fell like drops of rain”.

The rocket firing comes within 24 hours of a drone strike carried out by the US military killing two Islamic State militants. The drone strike with a Hellfire missile was aimed at a an explosives-laden vehicle posing an imminent threat to the Kabul International Airport where tens of thousands are in the process of fleeing war-torn Afghanistan.

At least three children were killed and several were injured in the strike.

US Central Command Navy Captain Bill Urban confirmed that the US was aware of the casualties among civilians. “We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life,” he said. The drone strike, Navy Captain Urban said, was to disrupt a potential attack on Kabul airport.

The attack was prompted after US intelligence saw some people loading explosives into the trunk of the vehicle in a compound between two buildings.

The visuals from Kabul showed shocked residents fleeing the spot, while some started pouring water from their roofs onto the fireball caused by the drone strike.

An initial explosion by the missile was followed by a much larger explosion due to the thick storage of explosives in the vehicle, which may have caused civilian deaths, US officials said.

With barely 48 hours on their hand, US troops are carrying out a historic large-scale evacuation from Afghanistan. The south Asian country will soon fall under the militant group Taliban’s rule, leaving tens of thousands of locals and citizens of western countries panic-stricken who are desperate to leave.

More than 117,000 people have been evacuated by the US and its allies so far.