KABUL: Assailants fired at least a dozen rockets near the heavily fortified Afghan presidential palace on Tuesday as President Ashraf Ghani delivered his Eid speech live from there, residents said.
There were no reports of casualties. The rockets were fired from a building less than a mile away from the palace. Government forces exchanged fire with the assailants, who had dug in inside the building.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came on the second day of a conditional cease-fire announced by Ghani with the Taliban, which has not yet responded to his offer.
Blasts could be heard as Ghani was delivering his speech, which was aired live. He was not reading from a paper, and no one approached him to inform him about the blasts, but he seemed to know and mentioned the blasts in his speech.
“We announced a cease-fire provided it is a bilateral one. It was based on the national consensus,” said Ghani.
“But… some groups and individuals who believe in plotting and blood (letting) will resort today to acts that would jeopardize the tranquility of the Afghan nation,” he added.
“If they believe that they can subdue this nation with this rocketing, then they should rethink that this nation has resolve.”
