UPDATE 2 - Mortar attacks rock Afghan capital on Independence Day

ADDS DAESH TAKES RESPONSIBILITY, ITS TOP JUDGE KILLED, MORE DETAILS

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - Multiple mortars were fired by unidentified assailants toward the diplomatic enclave in Kabul amid Independence Day celebrations Tuesday in Afghanistan, an official confirmed.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said at least 14 civilians, including women and children, were injured in various parts of the city.

Shells were fired from two cars that have been traced, and two people have been taken into custody, he added.

The Daesh/ISIS terror organization took responsibility for the attacks, which coincided with celebrations at the presidential palace, Defense Ministry, and other government offices within the highly-secured diplomatic zone.

The group posted the claim about responsibility on its propaganda site, aimaq.

The attack disrupted a live telecast of the high-profile celebrations by state broadcaster RTA.

In March, similar mortar attacks briefly disrupted the oath-taking ceremony of President Ashraf Ghani. That attack was claimed by the Daesh/ISIS terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's spy agency, NDS, claimed Tuesday to have killed the self-proclaimed chief justice of the Daesh/ISIS terror group who is charged with a number of gruesome assaults.

NDS said Abdullah Orakzai, a native of Pakistan’s tribal belt, was the key architect of a deadly assault on a prison in Jalalabad earlier this month that left nearly 30 people killed and more than 50 wounded.

In May, the NDS claimed it arrested the head of Daesh/ISIS for South Asia and Far East, Ziaul Haq, also known as Shaik Abu Umer Khorasani.