Rockets fired at new Afghan Parliament building in Kabul; no casualties reported

Three rockets were fired towards the new parliament building of the Afghanistan Parliament on Monday morning.

The incident took place as senior security officials were on the way towards the building to brief lawmakers, reports TOLO News.

Lawmakers said no one was reported wounded. But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack and said it caused heavy casualties.

The Taliban often claim responsibility for attacks and have been known to exaggerate fatality figures.

"Three rockets were fired at the parliament but they did not hit the main building," said Safiullah Muslim, a lawmaker from Badakhshan province. "It happened when the session was ongoing."

The Parliament building, which has been built by India was inaugurated by PM Modi in 2015. India had invested around $2 billion in aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan and trained scores of officers.

However, this is not the first attack on Afghan parliament.

In June 2015, a Taliban suicide bomber and six gunmen attacked the Afghan parliament as lawmakers had met to consider a new defence minister.

In 2015, the withdrawal of foreign forces and a reduction in US air strikes have allowed Taliban fighters, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, to launch several major attacks in important provinces.