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'Taliban attackers' target US Afghanistan base | 'Taliban attackers' target US Afghanistan base |
(35 minutes later) | |
There have been "multiple explosions" near an airfield at a US base in eastern Afghanistan, Nato has said. | There have been "multiple explosions" near an airfield at a US base in eastern Afghanistan, Nato has said. |
Afghan intelligence officials told the BBC seven suicide attackers targeted the base in Jalalabad, and witnesses said that gunfire was heard. | |
All the attackers and one Afghan guard were killed in the attack claimed by the Taliban, the officials said. | |
Nato is gradually handing security over to Afghan forces ahead of the departure of most combat troops in 2014. | Nato is gradually handing security over to Afghan forces ahead of the departure of most combat troops in 2014. |
Counter claims | |
The Afghan officials said the first four attackers in explosive-laden cars had targeted different entrances to the airfield, and three others had then followed on foot and battled security guards. | |
The force of the explosions is reported to have blown out windows a kilometre away. | |
Local residents said helicopters had fired on the insurgents, but the fighting - which lasted about 20 minutes - then appears to have stopped, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul reports. | |
There were no Nato casualties in the attack, officials said. | |
The Taliban claimed it had carried out the attack, saying the assault was launched at around 06:00 (01:30 GMT) on Sunday. | |
A Taliban spokesman added some fighters had broken through and fighting was taking place on the airfield. | |
The insurgents have been battling Nato and Afghan troops for 11 years and still control parts of the east and south. | |
Nato - which currently has some 130,000 troops in Afghanistan - is due to withdraw combat forces in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, with only training troops remaining. |