Officials said the incident occurred on Tuesday outside Asadabad, the capital of the eastern province of Kunar, where remnants of the former Taliban regime and allied militants are known to operate. Mohammad Hassan Farahi, the deputy provincial police chief, said: "Two rockets were fired by the enemies of Afghanistan. "One hit the compound of a primary school where children including girls were busy studying in the yard."

Government officials refer to Taliban and their Islamist allies as "enemies of Afghanistan". Asdabad is close to a base for US-led coalition forces tracking Taliban and al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan. A second rocket also landed near the school, hitting a police base, but Farahi said he had no information about any casualties or damage there. Violence in Afghanistan has intensified in recent weeks with a wave of suicide bomb blasts, raids and ambushes against Afghan security forces and foreign troops.

Many of the attacks have been claimed by Taliban insurgents, fighting since they were toppled in late 2001 to force foreign troops out of the country and overthrow the Western-backed government.