Video shows moment rocket attack targeting Afghan presidential palace disrupts Eid prayers
Footage shows most present continued to pray while others look around in panic
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Your support makes all the difference.At least three rockets landed near the presidential palace in Kabul on Tuesday shortly before Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was to deliver a speech marking the beginning of the Muslim holiday of Eid-a Adha.
Mirwais Stanikzai, spokesperson for the interior minister, said there were no injuries and that the rockets landed outside the palace grounds.
No one has come forward to take responsibility for the attack.
In a video of the incident aired on the Afghan TV channel TOLO News and widely circulated on social media, the sounds of the rockets landing near the heavily fortified presidential palace can be heard just as attendants begin to kneel down for prayers.
Though the footage shows some participants visibly panicked at the sound of the attack, most continue with the prayers as the sound of rockets exploding persists.
The palace is in the middle of a Green Zone that is fortified with giant cement blast walls and barbed wire and houses several embassies including the US mission. The streets near the palace have long been closed off.
The violence and instability in the country has been increasing since the US and NATO forces began their troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Taliban militants have seized dozens of districts as Afghan forces have largely retreated, and the group is now believed to control about a third of the country.
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