Taliban attacks NATO base in Afghanistan
By IANSWednesday, June 30, 2010
Kabul, June 30 (IANS/AKI) The Taliban has taken responsibility for an attack on a NATO airbase in which several militants were killed Wednesday.
The attack occurred at an airfield outside Jalalabad near the border with Pakistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
ISAF and Afghan forces repelled a number of insurgents when they attacked the airfield.
The militants set off a car bomb and fired rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, the statement said.
“The airfield’s perimeter was not breached and several insurgents were killed during the attack,” the statement said.
“Two combined security force members received minor injuries; there are no reports of civilian injuries.”
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said six suicide attackers had taken part in the assault.
The attack comes a day after US General David Petraeus warned of an “industrial strength insurgency” in the country.
Petraeus, who is due to take over command of the US military in Afghanistan, also warned Tuesday that fighting “may get more intense in the next few months”.
He is due to take up his post as NATO commander in Afghanistan following the dramatic departure of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was dismissed after he criticised the Obama administration in a magazine interview.
Jalalabad is one of NATO’s largest bases in Afghanistan, after Kandahar in the south and Bagram near Kabul.
Both bases have been attacked by insurgents in recent months.
–IANS/AKI
