Rocket lands in Kabul near Indian envoy's residence, no casualties reported so far

A blast was reported in Kabul on Tuesday as news reports said that a rocket landed at an Indian envoy's residence in the Green Zone in Kabul.No casualties have been reported so far. The rocket landed close to the Resolute Support compound in the vicinity of Shash Darak neighbourhood of the Afghan capital.Manpreet Vohra, India's ambassador to Afghanistan whose residence was attacked by the rocket, said that "India has dealt with terror and will never be cowed down by it," according to The Indian Express.Indian officials in Kabul also said that Vohra was determined to send the message that India will play its part in bringing peace to Afghanistan, no matter what other political forces thought.This blast comes on a day when Afghan president Ashraf Ghani told an international peace conference in the city that the death toll from a devastating truck bomb in Kabul's diplomatic quarter last week had jumped to more than 150.[caption id="attachment_3522629" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. AP[/caption]Kabul has been on edge since the bombing in the highly fortified area last Wednesday, the deadliest in the city since 2001."Over 150 innocent Afghan sons and daughters were killed and more than 300 wounded were brought to hospitals with burns and amputations," Ghani had said. Previously, officials had put the number of dead at 90.Four more people were killed on Friday when hundreds of protesters incensed by the bombing clashed with police, prompting officials to force them back with live rounds fired in the air, tear gas and water cannon.The protesters, holding a sit-in for a fifth day on Tuesday near the bombing site, have demanded the resignation of Afghanistan's security chiefs, including national security adviser Hanif Atmar — a demand that Ghani has turned down.And on Saturday, at least seven people were killed when suicide bombers tore through a row of mourners who were attending the funeral of one of the protesters, the son of an influential Afghan senator.No group has claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network for Wednesday's bombing.With inputs from AFP