KABUL: A major US air base north of Kabul was targeted in a dawn rocket attack on Saturday but there were no casualties or damage to the airfield, officials said.

Five rockets were fired at Bagram Airfield at 6am, said Parwan province spokeswoman Waheeda Shahkar, adding that police had defused another seven rockets mounted on a vehicle used in the attack. A Nato official also confirmed the assault.

“Rockets were fired towards Bagram Airfield this morning. Initial reporting is there were no casualties and the airfield was not damaged,” the official said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Taliban denied any involvement.

The militant Islamic State group previously claimed responsibility for a similar rocket attack on the base in April.

In recent months, IS has claimed several assaults in Kabul, including two deadly rocket attacks that struck residential areas in the capital.

The group also claimed brutal attacks on two separate educational centres in Kabul that killed dozens of people, most of them students.

Saturday’s attack came a day after 15 children were killed when an explosives-laden motorbike blew up near a religious gathering in eastern Ghazni province. Afghan officials blamed the Taliban for the blast.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020