A day after rocket attack near Afghanistan’s Presidential Palace, also known as ARG, sources said the attackers were stationed in Sarai Maahi, a market near Eidgah Mosque in PD1 of Kabul, three days before the attack.

The sources who wished not to be named in this report said the attackers were carrying a big number of light and heavy weapons and were speaking in Farsi and Arabic.

According to Resolute Support spokesman Lt. Colonel Martin O’Donnell, nine insurgents had been involved in the attack and that at least 30 mortar rounds were fired at areas around the Presidential Palace. 

But the question which is widely asked is that the insurgents managed to infiltrate one of the heavily-guarded areas in the capital city near the Presidential Palace and the Defense Ministry building?

Several rockets landed in Kabul city early on Tuesday morning when President Ashraf Ghani was addressing a ceremony on Eid al-Adha. Despite the sounds of at least four rockets in the background, President Ghani kept his cool and continued his speech by saying that insurgents could not stop the people from improvement by such attempts.  
 
The rocket attack started at about 9am Kabul time.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers were coming to the area every day and were spending their nights there.

“It is the responsibility of the relevant organizations to say that how this vehicle entered the city,” said Omar, an eyewitness. 
 
“One person was standing there, another near the shrine and several others in front of the shop,” said Massoud, an eyewitness. 
 
Abdul Karim, a vendor in Kabul, said he lives along with five others in the market from where the attack was carried out. 

The market is used for storing fishes during winters. In summers, it is used for other purposes including a parking for cards and rooms for rent for workers who have come to Kabul from other provinces. At least 15 vehicles were inside the market when the attack happened. All except two of them have been heavily damaged in the incident. 

Karim said the attackers took them hostage after he and his friends returned from Eid prayers on Tuesday morning, but he said they were released after one hour. 

“One of them (attackers) said that kill them, the other one said no. They pulled us on the ground to kill, then took us to a room and then released us,” said Karim. 
 
The attack has posed harms to a school and some houses in the area.

“They hit my shop with rocket. It is burnt,” said Ahmad Gul, a shopkeeper. 

“This is my car which has caught fire in the attack. So far no one has come to ask about cars in this market,” said Fida Mohammad, a schoolteacher. 
 
The battle between government forces and the attackers ended after three hours. Afghan forces used combat helicopters to eliminate the attackers.

A military expert said the attack on a secure area in Kabul indicates the intelligence failure of the country’s security agencies.

“First, this is the failure of intelligence forces. Secondly, there is a possibility of contact between these individuals with security personnel. It is not beyond these two circumstnacces,” said Sayas, a military analyst.

This comes after a senior politician warned that Taliban militants were planning to attack Kabul.

Ahmad Zia Massoud, former special envoy to President Ghani on reforms and good governance, said at a ceremony last week that government is not taking solid measures to prevent the attack despite it has information about it.
  
Although, the Taliban denied of having link with the attack, but former military officials have blamed Taliban and al-Qaeda network for involvement in the rocket attacks.