Afghan Rebel Rockets Kill 20, Wound 34 in Kabul, Soviets Say

Guerrillas in Afghanistan fired more than 20 rockets into residential areas of Kabul on Friday, killing 20 people, wounding 34 and damaging a mosque and other buildings in the Afghan capital, the Soviet news agency Tass reported.

The 5:30 a.m. attack was the latest reported on a major population center in Afghanistan. Fighting has continued as Soviet troops withdraw.

Radio Kabul also reported the attack on residential areas of the capital. The dispatch was monitored in Islamabad, Pakistan.

However, Afghan guerrilla leader Abdul Haq said in Islamabad that the insurgents do not aim at residential neighborhoods. He said the guerrillas’ 15 to 20 targets in Kabul, which include the airport and Soviet Embassy, are not residential areas.

Haq asserted that Afghan government troops and their Soviet backers fire rockets into Kabul’s residential districts to discredit the guerrillas and undermine their burgeoning popular support.

Tass said it was “monstrous” to suggest that Soviet forces would fire on a city they occupy and said one of the 21 rockets in four Kabul neighborhoods exploded next to the Soviet Embassy.

Afghan President Najibullah said Wednesday the insurgents have become bolder as Soviet troops depart. Under an accord signed April 14 in Geneva, the Kremlin committed itself to begin withdrawing its estimated 115,000 troops May 15, and to complete the pullout by Feb. 15.

The Soviet withdrawal places the burden of warfare on the Afghan army, a force many Western observers believe will be unable to withstand the rebels. Tass, however, said Afghan troops had staged several “successful operations” against the rebels recently.