Alwaght- Five rockets hit the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul after the US conducted a drone strike allegedly targeting a potential planner with the ISIS terrorist group.
The rockets were launched early Monday morning local time. US officials said they were intercepted by the C-RAM missile defense system installed at the airport, according to CNN and Reuters.
People living near the airport reported hearing the sounds of the missile defense system being activated. It was not immediately clear whether the rockets were all brought down.
C-RAM is an automated system that detects incoming projectiles and destroys them before they can hit their target using a machine gun.
There have been no reports of any casualties but that information could change, officials told Reuters.
Local police, however, said that one child was killed in the rocket attack, without providing further details.
Afghanistan’s TOLO News reported that the rockets were fired from a car in Kabul’s Khair Khana neighborhood toward the airport and hit several parts of the city.
The security situation in and around the Kabul airport remains remarkably tense as thousands of desperate Afghans continue to throng the premieres in the hopes of catching the last flights out of Afghanistan as the US winds down its evacuation mission.
Confirming Monday's attack, the White House said in a statement that “the president was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at HKIA, and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the ground.”
US officials have warned that ISIS terrorists could launch further attacks on the airport as American troops scramble to fly remaining American citizens and Afghan allies out before the August 31 deadline.
There is increasing concern about suicide bombers and car bombs attacking the airport after a suicide bombing on Thursday killed 13 US service members and more than 170 Afghan civilians.
US President Joe Biden said Saturday that his military chiefs had told him another terrorist attack was highly likely within the next 24-36 hours.
The US Central Command confirmed earlier that an airstrike was carried out Sunday night in Kabul against an explosives-laden vehicle, eliminating a potential ISIS threat to the airport.
Nine members of one family -- including six children -- were killed in the drone strike, a relative of the victims told a local journalist working with CNN.
Captain Bill Urban, a Central Command spokesman, said in a statement that investigations were being conducted and that “we are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today.”
