Over 180 killed and wounded in Kabul rocket attack

AFP, September 20, 1998

ISLAMABAD, Sept 20 (AFP) - Around 180 people were killed and wounded in opposition rocket attacks on Kabul on Sunday, the Afghan Islamic Press quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying.

At least 20 people were killed and 40 injured when a rocket hit the densely populated Khair Khana district while more than 100 were killed and wounded when a rocket slammed into a market later, Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmain told AIP.

Several more were killed after a third rocket landed near the city's Maryam high school, he said, adding that a total of 180 people were killed and wounded in the attacks.

Independent confirmation of the AIP report was not immediately possible as Kabul was under a dusk to dawn curfew.

Residents and witnesses earlier said 11 people died in Khair Khana area while dozens more were killed and wounded in the city's crowded market in the Karte Parwan district.

Mutmain blamed opposition commander Ahmed Shah Masood for the attack.

He said Masood troops fired the the Russian made Luna missiles from the northeastern Panjsher valley.

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