3 Afghans killed in suicide attack
2012-12-26 12:05
Kabul - A suicide car bombing hit a US-run base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least three Afghans and wounding seven others, officials said.
Afghan interior ministry spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi said the attack was a suicide car bombing and happened near the entrance of Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, a Taliban flashpoint that borders Pakistan.
"Three Afghan nationals are killed and seven Afghan nationals are wounded. We have no report of coalition casualties right now," Major Martin O'Donnell, a spokesperson for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said.
In December 2009 an al-Qaeda triple agent blew himself up at FOB Chapman, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, the deadliest attack on the US intelligence agency since 1983.
The Taliban, who have waged a bloody insurgency against foreign and Afghan government forces for the past 11 years since being ousted from power in an invasion led by the United States, claimed Wednesday's attack.
"The attack was carried out by a mujahid named Omar from Khost who knew the area very well," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP by email.
He said the attacker "detonated a car bomb while American invading forces were searching visitors going to the base".
Khost is one of the most volatile parts of Afghanistan.
It shares a porous border with Pakistan's tribal belt, which lies outside government control, and where US officials say the Taliban and al-Qaeda have carved out rear bases for operations in Afghanistan.
Khost province borders Pakistan, which is widely believed to be a key source of fighters, funds and supplies for the Taliban.
