Rockets hit neighborhood near Kabul airport amid US pullout

Rockets struck a neighborhood near Kabul's international airport on Aug. 30 amid the ongoing U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. It wasn't immediately clear who launched them.

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The rockets struck on Aug. 30 morning in Kabul's Salim Karwan neighborhood, witnesses said. Gunfire immediately followed the explosions but it wasn't immediately clear who was firing.

The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said they heard the sound of three explosions and then saw a flash in the sky. People fled after the blasts, they said.

U.S. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. military cargo planes continued their evacuations at the airport after the rocket fire.

In Washington, the White House issued a statement saying officials briefed President Joe Biden on "the rocket attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport" in Kabul.

"The president was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA, and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground," the statement said, using an acronym for Kabul's airport.

On Aug. 29, a U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying "multiple suicide bombers" from Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate on Aug. 29 before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul's international airport, American officials said. An Afghan official said three children were killed in the strike.

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The U.S. is to withdraw from Afghanistan by Tuesday. By then, the U.S. is set to conclude a massive two-week-long airlift of more than 114,000 Afghans and foreigners and withdraw the last of its troops, ending America's longest war with...