New Delhi: Hours after the US conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan's Kabul on Sunday, several rockets were fired across the Afghan capital on Monday, reports AFP.
The sound of rockets whooshing over the capital was heard in the morning by AFP staff.
The rockets were fired from a car in the Khair Khana area toward Kabul airport, eyewitnesses said, according to TOLOnews.
As many as five rockets were fired at Kabul airport but were intercepted by a missile defense system, reported Reuters quoting a US official.
The sound of the airport's missile defence system could be heard by local residents, who also reported shrapnel falling into the street -- suggesting at least one rocket had been intercepted.
Smoke was seen rising above buildings in the north, where the Hamid Karzai International Airport is located.
The incident comes as the United States is racing to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the evacuation of civilians amid the prevailing fear and terror in the war-torn country.
President Joe Biden has set a deadline of Tuesday to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan, drawing to a close his nation's longest military conflict, which began in retaliation for the September 11 attacks.
Several Afghans, including children, were killed in Sunday's drone strike as the US claimed to have killed an Islamic State suicide car bomber suspected of preparing to attack the airport in the capital city, reports CNN.
The US on Sunday said its military forces conducted drone strikes on a “multiple suicide bombers" vehicle in Afghanistan‘s capital city Kabul and eliminated an ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International airport where a large number of people have gathered to flee from the war-torn country. A massive evacuation is currently underway at the airport by several countries to take their people back safely.
The Associated Press reported citing an unnamed Afghan official that three children were killed in the drone strike on Sunday.
After such reports, the United States said it is investigating whether civilians may have been killed in the airstrike and that it would be “deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life".
"We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today. We are still assessing the results of this strike, which we know disrupted an imminent ISIS-K threat to the airport,” Captain Bill Urban, a Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson, said in a statement.