The Taliban claimed responsibility yesterday for a suicide bombing at a base in eastern Afghanistan that killed eight American civilians and one Afghan, the worst loss of life for the US in the country since October. A US congressional official said CIA employees were believed to be among the victims.
Separately, four Canadian soldiers and a journalist embedded in their unit were killed on Wednesday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s south, the bloodiest single incident suffered by that country’s military last year.
Michelle Lang, a 34-year-old health reporter with the Calgary Herald, was the first Canadian journalist to die in Afghanistan. She arrived in the country just two weeks ago.
Also yesterday, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand Province in the south said an airstrike by international forces killed and wounded civilians.
Dawud Ahmadi said he did not have immediate information on how many died in the attack on Wednesday in Babajid district, which he said occurred after an international forces patrol came under fire.
NATO said it was aware of the reports and was investigating.
Claims of civilians killed by foreign forces are a highly emotional issue among Afghans and feed strong resentment of international soldiers.
It was not immediately clear how the suicide bomber at the base on the outskirts of Khost was able to circumvent security.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that an Afghan National Army officer wearing a suicide vest entered the base on Wednesday and blew himself up inside a gym. A US official who was briefed on the blast also said it took place in the gym.
Khost is the capital of Khost Province, which borders Pakistan and is a Taliban stronghold.
It was not clear if the Afghan victim was military or civilian. Six Americans were wounded, the official said.
The CIA has not yet commented on or confirmed the deaths.
There was no independent confirmation that the bomber was a member of the Afghan military. General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said no Afghan National Army soldiers are at the base, but an Afghan official in Khost said about 200 Afghans have been contracted by the US to take care of security at the base. They are usually deployed on the outer ring of its walls, although some work inside, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“It’s not the first time that Afghan forces have conducted such an attack to kill Americans or foreigners,” the Taliban statement said, citing the killing of an American soldier and the wounding of two Italians this week in Badghis Province.
NATO has provided no details of that incident, but Afghan General Jalander Shah Bahnam said an Afghan soldier opened fire on a base in the province’s Bala Murghab district.
The congressional official in Washington said it was not clear how many of the victims in Khost were assigned to the CIA.
A senior State Department official said all of the victims were civilians. A former senior CIA officer who was stationed at the base said a combination of agency officers and contractors operated out of the remote outpost with the military and other agencies.
All the US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
NATO said only that the base is used by provincial reconstruction teams, which consist of both soldiers and civilians, and other personnel.
A spokesman in Kabul for the international coalition force said no US or NATO troops were killed in the explosion. The attack was the bloodiest for the US since eight soldiers were killed in an insurgent attack on a base in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 3.
In the south, NATO said the four Canadian troops and the reporter died when their armored vehicle hit a bomb while on an afternoon patrol south of Kandahar. It was the third-deadliest day for Canadians in Afghanistan since the war began.
Lang “was one of those journalists who always wanted to get to the bottom of every story, so this was an important trip for her,” Calgary Herald colleague Colette Derworiz said.
The military has not disclosed the names of the Canadian troops because relatives have not all been notified.
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