Afghan Guerrillas Attack Kabul Airport With Rockets; Five Killed

Afghan guerrillas launched a strong rocket attack on Kabul airport over the weekend, killing five people, damaging a runway and Soviet army offices and forcing temporary closure of the facility, the Soviet news agency Tass and a Western diplomat said Sunday.

The Saturday afternoon attack was the latest in a series of guerrilla assaults around Kabul as Soviet troops end their nearly nine-year-old occupation of Afghanistan. Tass called the attack “unprecedented” in intensity.

“A warehouse and a petrol tanker burnt out and three planes of the (commercial) air company Ariana sustained insignificant damage,” Tass said. “A total of 30 people suffered, of whom five were killed.”

Both Tass and state-run Kabul Radio earlier reported four people were killed and 17 others injured, including women and children.

Tass said 127 rockets were fired from the southeast, about 15 miles from the airport, with about half of them striking the area.

One runway was damaged and one rocket landed on the headquarters of Soviet army units stationed near the airport, injuring eight soldiers, some of them seriously, the official news agency said.

The Western diplomat’s information generally confirmed highlights of the Tass report.

The diplomat, who requested anonymity, said three of the missiles struck between the main runways, apparently damaging at least one of them. Three more struck the Soviet military area to the west of the main runways, from where military helicopters and SU-25 jet fighter planes were scrambled.

Authorities ordered the airport closed temporarily. The diplomat said even when it reopens, large aircraft may not be able to take off until the runway is repaired.