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Rockets hit neighborhood near Kabul airport as US evacuation efforts near close

Afghanistan car bomb
Posted at 2:23 AM, Aug 30, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-30 07:50:00-04

Rocket fire apparently targeting Kabul's international airport struck a nearby neighborhood on Monday, the eve of the deadline for American troops to withdraw from the country's longest war after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was hurt.

The rockets struck on Monday morning, the Associated Press reports. Gunfire immediately followed the explosions, but it wasn't immediately clear who was firing.

The rocket fire comes after American officials said that a U.S. drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying "multiple suicide bombers" from Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate on Sunday before they could attack the ongoing military evacuation at Kabul's airport.

An Afghan official said three children were killed in the strike.

U.S. intelligence officials say that Kabul's airport could be the target of further attacks from ISIS-K and other terrorist groups in the final hours of the American military's evacuation efforts.

Last week, 13 military members and 169 Afghans were killed by a suicide bomber who targeted a large crowd near one of the airport's gates.

The airport has been the scene of chaos in the last two weeks after Afghanistan's western-backed government collapse amid a takeover by the Taliban. Afghans who assisted the U.S. military and others who fear retribution from the Taliban are desperately trying to escape on one of the few remaining flights out of the country.

The U.S. has promised to cease evacuation efforts by Tuesday.