Rockets fired at compound of international allied forces

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Monday, April 8, 2002

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A Chinese-made rocket exploded just yards from a camp housing international allied forces Sunday, the first such attack since security forces began patrolling the Afghan capital last year.

Nobody was hurt in the rocket attack on the Kabul camp of German and Danish troops, which occurred just after 2:30 a.m. local time, said Flight Lt. Tony Marshall, spokesman for the British-led International Security Assistance Forces.

A 107-mm Chinese-made rocket flew over the peacekeeping compound and exploded to the northwest, Marshall said. Another rocket also was seen flying over the compound and an explosion was heard, but soldiers had not located the detonation site, he said.

Forces were searching the area for evidence and were trying to determine where the rockets were fired from.

The attack probably was linked to efforts to destabilize the interim Afghan administration ahead of the loya jirga, a national grand council meeting in June to select a new government, Marshall said.

Afghan authorities last week arrested at least 160 people on suspicion of trying to destabilize the government and plot attacks against interim leader Hamid Karzai and the exiled former king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, whose homecoming is expected later this month.

"Our initial assessment is that rather than a group wishing to target ISAF in its own right, that perhaps this is in some way linked to the current situation in Kabul," Marshall said. "We believe that there is a link with this particular attack."

Marshall would not say what evidence led allied forces to believe there was a connection between the attack and the earlier arrests.

Those still in custody from last week are linked to a hard-line Islamic group, Hezb-e-Islami, headed by former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, officials said. A spokesman for that group denied it was connected with the alleged plot.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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