Rockets hit Kabul airport after Mattis’s arrival

Defense Secretary James Mattis was a possible target of a rocket attack at a Kabul airport on Wednesday, according to reports.

The strike reportedly came hours after Mattis had left the airport after arriving for an unannounced visit to the country.

Mattis was accompanied by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in the Defense secretary’s first visit to the country since the Trump administration rolled out its new strategy for the ongoing U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. 

{mosads}Both the Taliban and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have claimed responsibility for the attack, where 29 rocket-propelled grenades and a number of other munitions were fired at the airport, according to USA Today.

Two missiles were fired at the airport and a helicopter was destroyed, Kabul airport chief Yaqub Rassouli said. Some air force hangers were also damaged.

Najib Danish, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said five people were injured when one of the rockets hit a nearby house. One of the wounded was in critical condition, he said.

A spokesman for the Taliban confirmed to NBC News the insurgent group’s responsibility for the attack and that the defense secretary was the intended target of the barrage. 

Mattis and Stoltenberg met with President Ashraf Ghani and the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to discuss the new U.S. strategy in the country, which the Trump administration said would end the previous strategy of “nation building” and focus more on dealing with the terrorist threat from the Taliban and other insurgents.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the airport was closed.

“The Embassy urges all U.S. citizens to avoid the area, until authorities have deemed it secure,” it said in a statement.