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NATO on full alert after rocket attacks

NATO-led peacekeepers were on heightened alert yesterday as they investigated an rocket attack on their main base in the Afghan capital, the second such attack this year.

The rocket exploded at 9:50pm Thursday in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base, known as Camp Warehouse, housing hundreds of troops in east Kabul, causing some damage but no casualties.

An hour later a blast shook another ISAF base used by the Canadian troop contingent in southwest Kabul. The cause was still being investigated.

ISAF patrols have been dis-patched to investigate both blasts and "soldiers were put on a heightened state of alert," ISAF announced in a statement.

Rebels believed to be resurgent Taliban and their allies have stepped attacks in the past six weeks, targeting aid workers, Afghan and Western troops and officials.

The worst strike against ISAF since its deployment 21 months ago occurred near Camp Warehouse on June 7, when a suicide car bomb attack killed four German peacekeepers. Al-Qaeda was blamed for the attack.

Initial investigations into Thursday night's attack indicated a "small calibre rocket" struck and damaged a shipping container in the Camp Warehouse. Bomb disposal experts were examining the site, ISAF said.

The rocket appeared to have been fired from the nearby Ko-i-Safi mountain, Afghan police at the scene said late Thursday.

The attack fell on the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror strikes, claimed by al-Qaeda which at the time was based in Afghanistan.

The US had warned its citizens in Kabul of possible attacks to coincide with the anniversary and had instructed them to avoid public places. US diplomats were told not to undertake unofficial travel within the city.

Six months ago two rockets were fired at ISAF headquarters. The two 122mm rockets destroyed two vehicles and damaged a building but there were no casualties.
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