Dozens killed as Afghan rebels bombard Kabul

Kabul (Reuter) - Hundreds of rockets and shells rained down on Kabul yesterday, killing and injuring dozens of residents, as Afghan rebels launched their heaviest bombardment of the capital in three weeks of fighting. On the 21st successive day of fighting between the army and renegade guerrillas, rockets crashed at one-minute intervals around the presidential palace, the Defence Ministry, in central residential areas and even in hospital compounds.

One rocket ploughed into a crowd at a crossroads near the luxury Soviet-built Microrayon housing complex, killing and injuring several people, hospital doctors said. Residents pointed to a gaping hole in a fourth-floor flat in which a 10-year-old girl was killed and six people injured and to a crater in a nearby wall made by a rocket that killed one man and injured 10 people. Four rockets ploughed into a residential area near the Jamhuriat hospital, killing 10 people, doctors said.