Rockets have been fired toward the presidential palace in Kabul as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was delivering his holiday message for the Muslim celebrations of Eid al-Adha.
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Police initially blamed the Taliban, but an Islamic State affiliate later issued a statement saying it had fired mortar shells at the presidential palace. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.
The incident on Tuesday prompted a ferocious aerial response, with helicopter gunships bombing the house from where the rockets were reportedly launched.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish later said all the attackers were killed. Two members of the Afghan security forces were wounded in the firefight, which also ignited a fire in a nearby market, he said.
The first rocket landed somewhere near the presidency building, while the second hit near a NATO compound and the US Embassy.
No one was hurt by the rockets, police official Jan Agha said.
Their boom was heard in the live broadcast of Ghani's speech.
Ghani interrupted his message to say: "If they are thinking the rocket attack will keep Afghans down, they are wrong."
The area where the rockets hit is one of the most secure in the Afghan capital, where embassies and government buildings are surrounded by high cement blast walls and coils of razor wire.
Many streets near the US Embassy are closed off, as well as those near sensitive government and military installations.
Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said Afghan police had noticed a suspicious vehicle earlier on Tuesday and followed it to a mud-brick house near the sprawling Eid Gah mosque, where hundreds had gathered to pray during the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Stanekzai told The Associated Press that the militants are believed to have fired the rockets from the house.
A helicopter gunship was called in and bombed the location, destroying the house and the vehicle.
Eyewitnesses at the scene said that after the explosions, sporadic shooting could be heard from the area, though it wasn't clear who was firing.
The assault on the major Muslim holiday came amid an unrelenting wave of attacks across the country in recent weeks and dealt another blow to Ghani's efforts to revive peace talks to end the 17-year war.
Australian Associated Press
