Taliban claim responsibility for suicide attack injuring 5 on US base

Taliban claim responsibility in US base attack

KABUL — Taliban forces claimed responsibility Friday for an attack by a suicide bomber on a U.S. military base near the Pakistani border that injured five Americans.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the attack Thursday night in eastern Afghanistan was conducted by an insurgent wearing the uniform of a border policeman.

“Last night, a Talib by the name of Mohammad Omar wore a border police uniform, entered the base and blew himself up,” he told The Associated Press by phone.

The attack occurred after sundown in a barracks at a U.S. facility in the Dand aw Patan district in Paktia province, about 35 miles (70 kilometers) east of the provincial capital Gardez, according to provincial government spokesman Roullah Samoun.

Abdul Satar, an adviser to the Paktia Provincial Reconstruction Team, said a U.S. delegation from Bagram had been sent to investigate the incident Friday.

A U.S. statement said “several” U.S. service members were injured in an explosion at a joint U.S.-Afghan outpost in Paktia but gave no further details.

The attack occurred about 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Taliban town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan which is under siege by U.S. and Afghan troops.

On Dec. 30 a Jordanian believed to be a double agent blew himself up at a CIA base in another eastern border province, Khost, killing seven agency employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer.