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Taliban fighters try to storm US base in Afghanistan

AFP, KABUL Taliban fighters attacked a US military base in eastern Afghanistan early yesterday and at least 13 were killed, some in their own suicide blasts, Afghan officials said.

The attack on Camp Salerno, 30km from the border with Pakistan, came as NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was involved in heavy fighting near Kabul after French troops were ambushed on Monday.

About 30 fighters tried to storm Salerno, the largest US base in eastern Afghanistan, Khost Governor Arsala Jamal said.

They struck a day after a suicide car bomb outside the base killed 10 Afghan laborers waiting to enter and wounded 13 more.

In yesterday’s attack the rebels were stopped about 1km from the camp, ISAF said.

Troops in the base had identified them “posturing to attack the base and engaged them with small-arms fire,” it said. Helicopters arrived soon afterwards and opened fire on the rebels as they tried to flee, it said.

Seven were killed, six of them suicide bombers, ISAF said. Of those, three died after they detonated their suicide vests and three other would-be bombers were killed by troops, who suffered no casualties.

Defense ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said 13 attackers were killed.

“Six blew themselves up, six others died in the explosions and one died in gunfire from commandos. Their bodies have been recovered,” he said.

It was the biggest attack on a US military base since fighters stormed an outpost in Kunar Province on July 13 and killed nine US troops, wounding 15 more.

Meanwhile, 10 French soldiers were killed in an ambush by Taliban rebels, prompting French President Nicolas Sarkozy to announce yesterday that he would head to Kabul immediately.

Another 21 French soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Sarobi district, about 50km east of Kabul — marking the worst battlefield toll for foreign troops since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The fighting started on Monday when militants ambushed an Afghan army patrol and French soldiers moved in to reinforce them, defense ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters.
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