Rocket strikes diplomatic area in Afghan capital

[StarfarerBill]

Source: Associated Press

KABUL – A rocket slammed Friday into a Kabul district housing several embassies, the latest in a series of attacks in the Afghan capital despite heavy security measures.

No casualties were reported in the nighttime blast, which occurred in the Wazir Akbar Khan district that includes the German, Japanese and British embassies. Police said the rocket landed on a sidestreet and broke a few windows.

Such attacks are far rarer in Kabul than in Baghdad during the height of the Iraq war, when the Iraqi capital was shaken daily by numerous explosions.

However, a rocket exploded Dec. 26 inside the grounds of the Afghan Defense Ministry in the center of Kabul near the presidential palace, causing no casualties. On Dec. 15 a suicide car bomber struck near the home of a former Afghan vice president and a hotel frequented by Westerners. Eight people were killed and nearly 40 were wounded.

Also Friday, NATO revealed that five Afghan civilians were wounded two days before when U.S. Marines and Afghan forces opened fire during a protest outside a military base in southern Afghanistan. It was the second demonstration to turn violent this week in the Garmsir district of the southern Helmand province, a Taliban-influenced area expected to be a major focus of President Barack Obama's troop surge.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan