Local Kabul residents helped Canadian Forces thwart a possible rocket attack today in Afghanistan, as Defence Minister John McCallum began a two-day visit.

The troops were on routine patrol near Camp Julien when local residents told them someone had been in palace near the base just hours earlier. When the soldiers went inside, they found two 107-millimetre rockets.

That is the same size rocket used in a Sept. 11 attack against Camp Warehouse -- the smaller of the two bases being used by Canadian troops in Kabul.

According to Deputy Commanding Officer Major Jamie Morse, the projectiles were aimed directly at the camp and were believed to be "ready to launch."

"It could have been remotely fired, it could have been on a timer," said Morse.

The missiles, which were destroyed in a controlled explosion, were found as McCallum arrived at Camp Julien. He and others were ushered into a bunker while the missile threat was investigated.

Also visiting was Vice-Admiral Greg Maddison, Canada's deputy chief of defence staff.

The threat prompted a heightened state of alert, which has now been lifted.

It's not clear who might have put the rockets there. However, there have been escalating threats from al Qaeda in recent weeks against coalition soldiers and aid workers.

"There was some speculation that somebody might have been there, but there was nobody that we caught," said Morse.

In the most recent attack, a French United Nations worker was killed by a man on a motorcycle who opened fire on her vehicle. It was the first UN death since the fall of the Taliban regime.

As for McCallum's visit, he is scheduled to address troops on Thursday, and meet with President Hamid Karzai and Defence Minister General Fahim Khan before returning to Canada Friday.