June 19, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1423

KABUL, June 18: At least two rockets exploded in suburbs near the US embassy in Kabul on Tuesday, but there were no casualties, witnesses said.

It was not clear if the US embassy was the target and one missile landed about 800 metres from the mission, while the other was near the residence of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah.

One rocket hit a block of buildings, blasting out a piece of the wall, the witnesses said. Debris littered the street.

Security forces closed off the road leading to the US embassy in the suburb of Macroyan-3.—Reuters

TWO KILLED IN CLASH: US special operations forces killed two people who opened fire on them as they patrolled a former Taliban stronghold north of Kandahar, a US military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Also on Monday, an AC-130 gunship attacked a complex of buildings with cannon fire after a US-Afghan patrol came under small arms fire near the village of Shkin on the border with Pakistan, he said.

US and allied forces suffered no casualties in either incident, said Commander Frank Merriman, a spokesman for the US Central Command, which directs the US military campaign in Afghanistan.

The first firefight occurred just north of Kandahar, he said.

“A mounted patrol of US special operations forces came under small arms fire while moving near the town of Tarin Kowht. The patrol returned fire and killed the two people who fire at them. There were no friendly casualties,” he said.

The second incident involved a combined patrol of US special operations forces and Afghan military who also came under small arms fire from gunmen, he said. “The patrol returned fire, and then the patrol leader elected to call in close air support,” he said.

“He brought in an AC-130 gunship that engaged the targets in a building complex. The AC-130 used 105 mm and 40 mm fire,” he said.

It was not immediately known whether anyone was killed in the air attack because the patrol waited until daylight to assess the damage, he said. —AFP