Taliban militants fired at least nine rockets at the Afghan capital before dawn yesterday in the biggest attack of its kind for several years, some landing near major Western embassies, police and witnesses said.
Amid a serious escalation of violence before Aug. 20 presidential elections, a provincial governor escaped unhurt after roadside bombs hit his convoy just west of the capital in an apparent assassination attempt, a spokesman said.
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the elections and have called on Afghans to boycott the ballot, the second direct presidential poll since the Islamists were toppled by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001. Violence across Afghanistan this year had already reached its worst level since 2001 and escalated further after thousands of US Marines launched a major offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand last month.
Senior police officer Sayed Ghafar said two rockets landed in the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic area, home to both the US and British embassies as well as the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. At least one rocket landed near a hospital close to the US embassy, TV pictures showed.
Residents said yesterday’s rocket attack was the biggest for several years.
It was also the first serious attack in Kabul in in this year’s upswing of violence, which has gradually spread out of Taliban strongholds in the south and east.
Meanwhile, NATO’s new civilian and military leaders are briefing members of the alliance’s decision-making North Atlantic Council on recent command changes in Afghanistan and other matters affecting the war.
The NATO secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and supreme allied commander US Admiral James Stavridis were meeting yesterday with envoys from the alliance’s 28 member states.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
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France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
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