RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
April 9, 2020
Several rockets have been fired at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
Five rockets were fired at the Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul, early on April 9, causing “no casualties or injuries,” the mission said on Twitter.
An Afghan security official in Parwan Province, where Bagram, the largest U.S. military base in the war-torn country is located, told RFE/RL that the rockets were fired from a vehicle.
The IS group said in a statement that their militants had targeted a helicopter landing pad at the base.
A Taliban spokesman said his group was not behind the attack.
Earlier this month, Taliban militants and the United States reached a deal on the withdrawal of U.S.-led international troops in exchange for Taliban security guarantees, but IS militants are not included in the agreement.
The Afghan affiliate of the IS group appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014, and has since made inroads into other areas, particularly the north.
IS fighters, whose number is estimated at 2,000 by the U.S. military, battle foreign and Afghan government forces as well as the Taliban.
They have carried out some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan in recent years.
With reporting by Reuters