Rockets fired toward site of national assembly


The Afghan Ministry of Interior said the two rockets were fired from an unknown location at about 8 a.m.

Kabul police criminal director Mohammad Zahir said one person was wounded.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke Wednesday on the opening day of the assembly - called a loya jirga - where the elders are considering the terms of an agreement between Afghanistan and the United States. The agreement is to govern the presence of U.S. troops after 2014 when most international forces are to have left or moved into support roles.

One rocket landed on a hillside about one kilometer from the meeting site. The other landed farther away in an open area, shattering a few windows in buildings near where merchants were selling vegetables and fruits.

"Me and my four friends were drinking tea and suddenly we heard an explosion," said Mohammad Shafi, a 28-year-old taxi driver at the scene. "We didn't know if it was a bomb or a rocket."


"Everybody knows that they are trying to hit the jirga, but instead innocent civilians were the victims," he said. "If the jirga weren't going on, there would have been no rockets. If the man loses his hand, who will feed his family?"

No one has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.

The Associated Press


