Blast kills 10 Afghans; insurgents attack NATO base
By DPA, IANSSaturday, November 13, 2010
KABUL - A blast in northern Afghanistan Saturday killed 10 people, while six suspected militants were killed after they tried to storm a NATO base in country’s east, officials said.
An explosive-laden motorbike was detonated by remote control in a busy market in the northern province of Kunduz Saturday morning, killing 10 people, including three children, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Some 18 others were injured in the blast which took place in the Emam Saheb district, it said.
Abdul Rahman Sayedkhaili, the provincial police chief had earlier said that eight people, including two pro-government militiamen and six civilians, were killed in the explosion.
Separately, six Taliban militants, using rocket propelled grenades and automatic rifles, attacked a NATO-led base in Jalalabad airport outside the provincial capital for eastern province of Nangarhar, the alliance military said in a statement.
All attackers were killed in the firefight with Afghan and foreign forces based inside the airfield, it said, adding that there were no casualties among the combined forces.
Two of the attackers were suicide bombers, who were killed before they could detonate their explosives, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the provincial governor of Nangahar said.
Obaidullah Talwar, the provincial police chief said that four of the attackers were wearing police uniforms as a disguise.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, said that 14 members of the militant group took part in the assault. He claimed that dozens of foreign and Afghan troops were killed.
The attack on NATO base came a day after a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of Afghan and NATO-led troops in Kabul city, killing a civilian and injuring a foreign soldier.
Taliban insurgents have recently stepped up attacks on Afghan and NATO military targets across Afghanistan. In October, up to 100 insurgents were killed after they attacked a NATO base in eastern province Paktika.
