June 15, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1424

BAGRAM AIR BASE, June 14: Unknown attackers fired up to three rockets at a US base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, but there were no casualties amid a seasonal increase in such attacks, a US military spokesman said.

“Three rockets impacted in the vicinity of the fire base in Asasdabad in Kunar province this morning,” US Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base, 50 kilometres north of Kabul.

Davis was unable to say who fired the rockets, but similar attacks have been blamed on Taliban remnants and their Al Qaeda allies or extremists linked to former Afghan premier and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

“We don’t have any idea who’s firing the rockets, we would assume the anti-coalition forces,” he said.

Rockets are the weapon of choice for Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists but they are inaccurate and seldom hit their targets or cause any casualties.

Some 19 months after the fall of the Taliban, foreign and pro-government troops still regularly come under attack from Taliban and Al Qaeda holdouts.

Davis said there has been a seasonal increase in attacks on US and pro-government bases with the coming of the warmer weather.—AFP