Taliban militants fired rockets and detonated bombs outside a US base in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday and police said 12 bodies were found near the gate of the airfield.
Local police officials said a dozen bodies in Afghan police and military uniforms were scattered around the entrance. A Taliban spokesman said the militant group had launched the 6am assault.
It was not clear whether the dead were Afghan security forces or militants dressed in uniforms, a tactic the Taliban sometimes deploy during attacks.
“We can confirm there have been multiple explosions in the vicinity of the Jalalabad airfield,” the US-led coalition fighting the insurgents since they were removed from power in 2001 said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said an Afghan soldier was killed and several were wounded in the attack.
Afghanistan’s defence ministry spokesman said there were rocket attacks at the base followed by two suicide bombings. He had no information on casualties.
In a text message, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said : “This morning at 6am a number of our devotees attacked the major US Base in Jalalabad city and so far have brought heavy causalities to the enemy.”
In February, a suicide car bomber killed nine people at the base, almost exclusively used by Nato and the US military.
The United States and Afghan government are scrambling to improve security before most Nato combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.
Source: The Daily Star