Taliban rockets hit Afghan parliament compound no one reported hurt

KABUL: Rockets fired by Talibanfighters struck the compound of Afghanistan's new parliament onMonday as the country's top intelligence official and caretakerminister of interior prepared to address the assembly.

Lawmakers said no one was reported wounded contradictingTaliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid who said the militants'attack had caused heavy casualties.

"Three rockets were fired at the parliament but they did nothit the main building" said Safiullah Muslim a lawmaker fromBadakhshan province. "It happened when the session was ongoing."

A senior security official told Reuters that threelong-range rockets were fired from a hilltop several hundredsmetres from the parliament building.

The Taliban released an emailed statement along with severalphotographs of the attack which appeared to show a smoke risingfrom near the parliament in a western neighborhood of the

capital Kabul.

In another photo a small hole and a damaged wallapparently caused by the rockets could be seen.

"There was a clear negligence of duty and I am going to tasksecurity officials to provide tight security in and around theparliament" Taj Mohammad Jahid the caretaker Minister ofInterior told lawmakers.

Reuters