‘Six rockets fired at Kabul airport’ & get intercepted by US anti-missile system after drone ‘wipes out ISIS-K squad’
AS MANY as six rockets fired at the Kabul airport were intercepted by a US anti-missile system, reports say.
It came just hours after forces launched a drone that killed "ISIS-K squad members" suspected of preparing to attack the airport.
Officials say initial reports did not indicate any US casualties but it's not clear if every rocket was taken down by the defense system.
The US' C-RAM defense system detects potential attacks and uses a machine gun to destroy rockets before they hit their target.
The rockets struck in Kabul's Salim neighborhood, witnesses told the Associated Press.
They said they heard three explosions and then saw a flash in the sky.
Gunfire followed the explosions but it remains unclear who was firing.
The Islamic State groups affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for Monday's rocket attack in Kabul, saying it fired at least six Katyusha rockets at the airport in the Afghan capital.
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Residents also reported shrapnel falling into the street suggesting that at least one rocket had been intercepted.
US military planes were able to continue their evacuations at the airport after the rocket fire.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: "The president was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA (Kabul airport) and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground."
This comes as the US has just two days left to evacuate all troops from Afghanistan.
There is increasing concern that Islamic State militants will launch further attacks on the airport as troops try to evacuate the remaining American citizens.
US forces have reportedly taken out several threats in the days since the attack.
Earlier Sunday, a US drone strike blew up a vehicle that was reportedly in Kabul, according to officials.
A car that was carrying several militants and "packed with explosives" was hit.
Family members say 10 people, including seven children, were killed in the drone strike, according to a report.
The dead were all from a single extended family who were getting out of a car in their driveway when the strike hit a nearby vehicle, claimed Abdul Matin Azizi, 20, a neighbor who saw the attack.
Azizi said the explosion occurred as the family returned home Sunday afternoon around 4.30pm.
The US Central Command said it was assessing the possibility of civilian casualties.
Spokesman Capt Bill Urban said: "We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties.
"It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further.
ROCKET ATTACK FEARS
"We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life."
Officials had warned that ISIS-K insurgents were looking to target the airport.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said: "We know that they (ISIS-K) would like to lob a rocket in there.
"Now we actually have pretty good protection against that. We have our anti-rocket and mortar system."
A strike carried out after the Thursday attack reportedly .
On Thursday, an attack by an ISIS-K suicide bomber left 170 people dead outside of the airport, including 13 US service members.
The bodies of the 13 troops were transferred to the Dover Air Force base in Delaware on Sunday.
The 11 were identified as Rylee McCollum, Nicole Gee, Dylan Merola, Kareem Nikoui, Jared Schmitz, Humberto Sanchez, Hunter Lopez, Taylor Hoover, Daegan Page, Johanny Rosario Pichardo, and 20-year-old David Lee Espinoza.
A US Navy medic was identified as while Ryan Knauss was identified as the soldier who was killed in the blast.
The American flag was draped on all of the caskets as they lined the inside of a C-17 Globemaster jet.
The US Marines Twitter account posted: "Gone but never forgotten."
Five of the troops were just 20 years old – born months before the September 11 attacks which spurred US troops to invade Afghanistan to topple Al Qaeda and dismantle the Taliban.
family said they are “disgusted” at the incompetence of the Biden administration and said no troops needed to die.
Rylee’s sister Roice told the Sun that the family believes the tragedy was avoidable.
She said: “As far as goes we are truly disgusted with the administration and how they handled the entire thing.
“It was avoidable and none of those Marines needed to be put in that situation. It was incompetent.”
Sgt Johanny Rosario Pichardo died as she was screening women and children who were trying to flee Kabul.
She was one of two female Marine sergeants killed in the deadly blast, The reports.
Marine First Lieutenant John Coppolasaid said her “service was not only crucial to evacuating thousands of women and children but epitomizes what it means to be a Marine: putting herself in danger for the protection of American values so that others might enjoy them.”
HUNDREDS STRANDED
While the US had foiled the potentially devastating attack, the determination of ISIS-K suicide bombers to hit the airport has left people still stranded in Afghanistan desperate.
US and allied forces have evacuated more than 110,000 people, including foreign nationals and "at-risk" Afghans since the operation began on August 14.
Around 1,000 British troops took part in Operation Pitting, the largest military evacuation since the end of World War Two.
They airlifted more than 15,000 people out of Kabul over 15 days, including 5,000 Brits.
But officials warned that 150 Brits and at least 1,000 Afghan staff who worked with troops and diplomats may still be there.
A family of six, including four toddlers, last night begged Boris Johnson to get them out amid fears the country could be engulfed by a terror campaign.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed there are still stranded in Kabul waiting to be evacuated as well.
