TEHRAN – A rocket hit Iran’s embassy in Afghanistan on Saturday morning, causing no fatalities, the Iranian embassy said in a tweet following the attack.

The attack on Iran’s embassy was part of a larger rocket attack on various parts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, including the heavily protected areas of Wazir Akbar Khan and Shahr-e-Naw.

On Saturday morning, a barrage of rockets hit several districts of Kabul, killing at least eight people and injuring several others. The attack took place one hour after two IED explosions rocked the city.

The Afghan Tolo news agency reported that at least 23 rockets landed in the Wazir Akbar Khan and Shahr-e-Naw areas in downtown Kabul, Chahar Qala, the Traffic Roundabout, the Gul-e-Surkh Roundabout in PD4, Sedarat Roundabout, the Spinzar Road in the center of the city, near the National Archive road in PD2, and in Lysee Maryam market and Panjsad Family areas in the north of Kabul.

The Taliban denied involvement in the attack.

“One of the rockets fired this morning, November 21, 2020, landed at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kabul and various shrapnel hit the main building, glasses, facilities, and equipment of the embassy,” tweeted the Iranian embassy.

The embassy added, “Fortunately, there were no casualties and all embassy staff are in good health.”

The embassy also published pictures showing a handful of shrapnel that hit the embassy.

Describing the attack as a “proxy war” waged by “terrorist allies of the United States”, the embassy said in the Saturday attack, the diplomatic compound of Kabul was targeted.

The attack came at a time when Afghanistan is in the midst of peace negotiations with the Taliban. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is on a seven-nation tour of Europe and West Asia, is expected to meet peace negotiators from the Afghanistan government and the Taliban in Doha on Saturday.

SM/PA