US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was the intended target of a rocket attack near an Afghanistan airport on Wednesday, according to the Taliban. At least five civilians were wounded when six rockets were fired toward Kabul international airport in the Afghan capital after Mattis touched down. Mattis condemned the attack as a ‘criminal act by terrorists’, adding that it was a ‘classic definition of what the Taliban are up to here now’. The Taliban claimed responsibility and its spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, tweeted that
Mattis’ plane had been the target of the attack. The volley of missiles struck near the military section of the airport, said interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish. Police have cordoned off the area to find the exact location from which the rockets were fired. The attack came hours after Mattis arrived in the Afghan capital – the first member of Donald Trump‘s cabinet to visit the war-torn country since his pledge to stay the course in America’s longest war. READ MORE