Taliban Rocket Attack on Kabul Airport Damages Military Aircraft -- Helicopter of President Hamid Karzai Was Destroyed, Official Says --- KABUL—The Taliban on Thursday attacked Kabul International Airport's military wing with rockets, causing millions of dollars in damage and destroying the helicopter of President Hamid Karzai, Afghan officials said. -- The attack followed on the heels of a suicide bomber's attack on an Afghan Air Force bus Wednesday. -- The Taliban fired two rockets late Thursday morning that hit three Afghan military helicopters, including Mr. Karzai's, according to a senior Afghan official. "President Karzai's helicopter is destroyed," he said. -- An Afghan official said two other aircraft damaged in the attack belonged to the Interior Ministry. The Afghan Interior Ministry operates the Special Mission Wing, a fleet of 30 Soviet-designed Mi-17 transportation helicopters used for counternarcotics missions and special operations.-- Mehdi Kazimi, a spokesman for the ministry's counternarcotics division, said the damaged helicopters weren't part of its fleet, however. Afghan military helicopters, paid for by the U.S. military, cost as much as $18 million each.-- Kabul airport chief Mohammad Yaqub Rasouli confirmed that two rockets landed at the airport, damaging aircraft but causing no casualties. --- The U.S.-led military coalition, which shares part of the airport with Afghan forces, said its side of the base has been secured. -- ."There was no major damage to infrastructure, and our air operations capability has not been impacted," said a spokesman for the coalition, who declined to comment specifically on the damage caused to the equipment. -- The Mi-17s are the backbone of the country's nascent air force, which falls under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. The Afghan military operates 58 of the aircraft, in addition to five Mi-35 attack helicopters and some MD-530 training helicopters. -- While the Taliban frequently fire rockets in the Afghan capital, often aimed at the military airport, they rarely cause damage or casualties. -- Thursday's attack occurred a day after a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up in front of an Afghan Air Force bus as troops were boarding in Kabul. Nine people were killed in the attack, one of them a civilian, and 13 people were injured. -- The rise in violence comes as Afghanistan is struggling to resolve a political impasse sparked by allegations of massive fraud in last month's runoff presidential election. - More, WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/articles/taliban-attacks-kabul-airport-with-rockets-destroys-karzais-helicopter-1404390980