Rockets fired at Kabul airport but US flights continue to take off

Kabul: Rocket fire apparently targeting Kabul's international airport struck a nearby neighbourhood on Monday, the eve of the deadline for the US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. The Islamic State group claimed the attack, and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The rockets did not halt the steady stream of US military C-17 cargo jets taking off and landing at the airport. Afghanistan's IS affiliate launched a devastating suicide bombing on Thursday at one of the airport gates that killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 US service members.

The extremist group is far more radical than the Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan earlier this month after capturing most of Afghanistan in a matter of days. The two groups have fought each other in the past, and the Taliban have pledged to not harbour terrorist groups.

The Taliban tightened their security cordon around the airfield after the attack, clearing away massive crowds of Afghans who were desperate to flee the country in the waning days of the US-led airlift. Taliban fighters are now stationed along a fence near the main runway.

In the capital's Chahr-e-Shaheed neighbourhood, a crowd quickly gathered around the remains of a four-door sedan used by the attackers. The car had what appeared to be six homemade rocket tubes mounted in place of back seats. IS and other militant groups routinely mount such tubes into vehicles in order to move them undetected.

"I was inside the house with my children and other family members, suddenly there were some blasts," said Jaiuddin Khan, who lives nearby.

Some of the rockets landed across town in the Salim Karwan neighbourhood, striking residential apartment blocks, witnesses said. That neighbourhood is some 3 kilometres (less than 2 miles) from the airport. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Five rockets targeted the airport, said Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the US military's Central Command.

A defensive weapon known by the acronym C-RAM a Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System targeted the rockets in a whirling hail of ammunition, Urban said.

The system has a distinct, drill-like sound that echoed through the city at the time of the attack.

The IS statement, carried by the group's Amaq media outlet, claimed the militants fired six rockets.

The White House said officials briefed President Joe Biden on the rocket attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport, apparently referring to the vehicle-based rocket launch.

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

After the rocket fire, planes continued to land and taxi across to the northern military side of the airport. Planes took off roughly every 20 minutes at one point on Monday morning.

One C-17 landing in the afternoon shot off flares as it approached a manoeuvre to protect against heat-seeking missiles and a sign that the US military remains concerned about surface-to-air missiles loose in the country.

Smoke from several fires along the airport's perimeter could be seen on Monday. It wasn't clear what was ablaze, although US forces typically destroy material and equipment they won't take with them.

The airport had been one of the few ways out for foreigners and Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover. However, coalition nations have halted their evacuations in recent days, leaving the US military largely alone at the base with some remaining allied Afghan forces.

The White House said on Monday that over the last 24 hours, the American military carried out some 1,200 evacuees on 26 C-17 flights, while two coalition flights flew out 50 others. Since the end of July, US forces have evacuated about 1,22,300 people, it said.

Ross Wilson, the Charge D'affaires at the US Embassy in Kabul now working out of the airport, insisted those evacuations remained ongoing in a message on Twitter.

This is a high-risk operation, Wilson wrote. Claims that American citizens have been turned away or denied access to HKIA by Embassy staff or US Forces are false. He did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, the current happenings in Afghanistan have raised new security questions, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday, asserting the Central government is alert and capable of dealing with any situation.

He also said no anti-national force should be allowed to encourage terrorism from across the border by taking advantage of the developments in Afghanistan.

He was addressing the third Balramji Dass Tandon memorial lecture organised by Panjab University on the issue of national security.

"What is happening in neighbouring Afghanistan is raising new questions in terms of security and our government is keeping a watch on the developments there," said Singh in his address.