Two rockets struck close to a transition ceremony in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman on Tuesday where foreign troops were handing control over to local forces.

An AFP reporter at the ceremony in Mehtar Lam said the rockets struck towards the end of proceedings, which were attended by senior officials.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties and it was not a direct hit on the handover ceremony.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force had no immediate details of the attack and the provincial police chief denied it had happened.

“We don’t have any reports of such an incident. It has not happened. No rockets have landed anywhere,” said police chief Ghulam Aziz Zarani.

All shops were closed following the attack.

An AFP reporter said the city was deserted except for Afghan police and army patrols.

Most media and some officials from the ceremony were then kept at a nearby compound housing the provincial reconstruction team.

In an earlier statement praising the transition, the interior ministry made no mention of the attack.

“Following the process of transferring security responsibilities to Afghan forces, a ceremony was held today morning in Mehtar Lam city in the provincial government office of Laghman,” said the ministry statement.

It was the second of seven areas to hand responsibility to national forces, in a process due to finish by the end of 2014, the deadline for the withdrawal of all foreign combat troops.

It said the head of the transition authority, Ashraf Ghani, had attended along with the minister of rural development, the deputy interior minister and various other ministers and provincial government figures.

Deputy interior minister Abdul Rahman Rahman “called it a positive step towards self-sufficiency and accepting responsibility by Afghan forces”, said the statement.

NATO has said the transition process for each area could take upto two years to complete, but analysts and parliamentarians have expressed great doubts over the switch.

NATO has also played down its significance amid widespread concerns over the ability of Afghan security forces to ward off the Taliban.