Afghan forces killed four out of nine insurgents who launched mortar attacks on Tuesday on areas around the presidential palace and diplomatic district of Kabul, two officials said.
They attacked just as President Ashraf Ghani was delivering a speech marking the beginning of Eid al-Adha, a three-day religious festival.
President Ghani acknowledged the explosions that were heard during his speech and described the perpetrators as enemies of Afghanistan, Islam and peace.
An official at the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan said nine insurgents had fired about 30 mortar rounds from two separate locations in Kabul.
Afghan police cordoned off the two locations and military helicopters destroyed the two firing positions used by the insurgents.
“In total four of the nine insurgents were killed. The other five insurgents surrendered to Afghan forces,” US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Martin O’Donnell said in a statement.