Eight dead and 31 wounded in mortar shell attack on residential areas in Kabul
- No one took immediate responsibility for the early morning attack that also targeted an area of Kabul that houses diplomatic missions
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Doha on Saturday to press for a reduction in violence in meetings with the Taliban
About 23 mortar shells slammed into different parts of the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing at least eight people and wounding 31 others, an official said.
The shells were fired from two cars, Interior Ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian said. No one took immediate responsibility for the early morning attack that also targeted the posh Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, which houses diplomatic missions.
At least one rocket landed in the Iranian embassy compound. In a tweet, Iran’s embassy in Kabul in confirmed that a rocket came down in the courtyard of the embassy compound and “a number of shrapnel” hit the embassy’s main building, causing some damage to windows and equipment, without specifying the equipment.
“Fortunately the incident has no casualty and all the staff are in good health,” said the tweet.
The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed the rocket barrage, according to SITE Intelligence Group. The IS group has carried out similar attacks in the past and claimed responsibility for recent assaults in Kabul including two devastating attacks on educational institutions that killed more than 50 people, many of them students.
As well as insurgent groups, there are several heavily armed warlords with militias living in Kabul with long-standing animosities against each other.
