Updated on
Summary
Seven Taliban militants were killed and five NATO troops injured during a pre-dawn assault Wednesday by the insurgents on the sprawling and heavily-fortified Bagram air base in Afghanistan, about 30 miles north of capital Kabul. The insurgents attacked the largest American installation in Afghanistan with rockets, small arms and grenades. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the assault, saying 20 suicide attackers stormed the base around 4am (1130 GMT), with four of them detonating their explosives at the entrances to facilitate the entry of their colleagues. He said that a major firefight was going on inside the base.A US military spokeswoman at Bagram, said a non-critical building was struck in the attack, while another US spokeswoman said sporadic explosions could be still heard around the base hours after the attack. The attack came a day after a suicide-bomber struck a NATO convoy in Kabul, killing 18 persons, including five US servicemen and a Canadian colonel. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on NATO in the Afghan capital in eight months. In Tuesday's attack, five military vehicles were damaged and more than 12 civilian vehicles, including a bus, were caught in the blast.
