Afghanistan Taliban attack US base in Jalalabad

Taliban suicide bombers have killed four Afghan soldiers and wounded Nato troops in an attack on a joint US-Afghan airbase in eastern Afghanistan.

A local police chief told the BBC that two civilians were also killed in the attack on the base in Jalalabad.

Afghan intelligence officials said nine suicide attackers were involved in the assault, and all had been killed.

Nato did not say how many of its troops had been injured, or how seriously.

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Kabul said the attack appeared "coordinated and complex".

She added that this is not the first time the Taliban has targeted the air base, which is used by US and Nato forces. In February it killed nine people in a similar attack.

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Orla GuerinBBC News, Kabul

This was an ambitious co-ordinated assault involving explosive-laden vehicles and suicide bombers on foot.

A Nato spokesman said the assault had clearly been planned for some time, but both Nato and Afghan officials said it was a failure because the militants did not penetrate the base.

But the fact that the Taliban managed to get as far as the perimeter will raise questions, as there are checkpoints on the approach routes.

The attack has demonstrated, once again, that the militants retain the capacity to strike, in spite of regular claims from Afghan and Nato officials that they have been weakened.

The Nato spokesman said the assault was a failure because the Taliban did not penetrate the base.

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 had arrived in explosive-laden cars and had targeted different entrances to the airfield, Others who had followed on foot 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.

In addition to the member of the Afghan security forces who was killed, a Nato spokesman said several Nato troops were also wounded.

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 said a car bomb was detonated at the entrance to the base, before a second group of attackers, wearing Nato uniforms, were sent in.

Nato forces then responded with helicopters, and both Nato and Afghan officials said the attackers had not managed to enter the base itself.

Local police told Reuters that bodies in Afghan police and military uniforms were scattered around the entrance to the base, but it was unclear whether they were Taliban attackers in disguise.

Taliban 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.

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