MIRI (Afghanistan), June 10: Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unhurt after Taliban militants fired rockets on Sunday at a school where he was meeting tribal elders, officials said.

One rocket exploded outside the wall of the school, about 150 metres from Karzai, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The loud explosion did not appear to disrupt the gathering of about 500 people in the village of Miri in Ghazni province, about 200km southwest of the capital Kabul.

US-led coalition soldiers providing security for the meeting said another rocket was fired at the school, but appeared not to have detonated, he said. Three mortar rounds fire were also fired.

Chief Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said earlier that a militant group in the area had fired 12 rockets at a “vast gathering site.”—AFP