Afghan Taleban launch brazen attack on NATO base
BAGRAM. May 19. KAZINFORM Suicide bombers carrying rockets and grenades launched a brazen pre-dawn attack on one of the biggest NATO military bases in Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing an American contractor; Kazinform refers to The Arab News.
Nine US troops were also wounded. Ten militants, wearing vests packed with explosives, were killed, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
The fighting came the day after a suicide bomber attacked an ISAF military convoy in Kabul, killing 12 Afghan civilians and six foreign troops. The attacks may mark the start of a Taleban spring offensive against high-profile foreign targets.
The assault on Bagram air base, about an hour's drive north of Kabul and holding mainly US troops, began in the pre-dawn hours when Taleban insurgents attacked near the base's gates. It continued for hours with sporadic rocket and small arms fire.
An ISAF spokesman would not disclose the name or profession of the American contractor who was killed until the man's family had been notified. One rocket landed inside the base, causing minor damage, but no insurgents managed to get inside Bagram, ISAF said.
Helicopter gunships hovered above the base.
"We're always prepared to deal with attacks on our base, the response this morning was immediate," said Lt. Col. Clarence Counts, a spokesman for the Bagram base.
The Taleban said four suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the base's gates and others managed to get inside, but the Islamist group often exaggerates their operations.
Another spokesman for the base said none of the would-be bombers managed to detonate their vests and "at no point did the insurgents breach the perimeter of the base"; Kazinform cites The Arab News.
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