Rocket Attack on Afghan Capital

16/12/2003| IslamWeb

An overnight rocket attack on the capital increased the sense of urgency at Afghanistan's landmark constitutional convention Tuesday, but caused no casualties. Three rockets came down in the early morning hours near the airport about 6 miles away from where the loya jirga, or grand council, is drawing up the country's first post-Taliban charter. Some delegates slept right through the drama. Others said they noticed even greater security as they entered the closely guarded site Tuesday, as three helicopters patrolled the sky overhead. The rockets were fired into the north of the Afghan capital at about 12:50 a.m. local time Tuesday. They came down in a residential area northeast of the council site. The target of the rockets was not clear, but the U.S. military has warned that Taliban fighters might try to strike the council. Leaflets denouncing the gathering have appeared in several towns. Another rocket hit a field, and the third failed to explode, said Rahmatullah, a Kabul district police commander who like many Afghans uses only one name. Thousands of Afghan troops, as well as the 5,500 international peacekeeping force, have been providing security for the loya jirga, setting up machine-gun posts and checking cars. Afghan intelligence units are patrolling hills surrounding the city to try to prevent rocket attacks. The 500 delegates are to ratify a constitution supposed to form the bedrock of a new state strong enough to put an end to 24 years of fighting that has left much of the country impoverished and in ruins. **PHOTO CAPTION*** ISAF and Afghan security officials examine a piece of shrapnel from a rocket which hit the roof of a mud house in Kabul, Afghanistan, early Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)