Deaths from a suspected suicide attack on Sunday at a military base in eastern Afghanistan rose to 33 yesterday, as casualties from the Taliban’s insurgency continue to mount despite nascent peace talks.
The apparent bombing occurred a military roadblock near Camp Chapman in Khost Province, where both Afghan and foreign troops are stationed, shortly before iftar, the meal breaking the Ramadan fast.
The bombing hit a checkpoint operated by members of the Khost Provincial Force, an Afghan unit that guards Camp Chapman, Khost Province deputy police chief Youqib Khan said, adding that it was not immediately clear whether the bomber was trying to get onto the base or what led to his attack.
Photo: AP
A US defense official described Chapman as an Afghan base that hosts some US special operations forces.
A local hospital received the bodies of at least 26 Afghan civilians on Sunday, mostly women and children including eight members of a single family, Khost Province health director Hedayatullah Hamedi said, adding that the blast wounded nine civilians.
“The explosion was so loud and strong that almost all of the city of Khost was shaken by the blast,” provincial police chief General Faizullah Ghyrat said.
A statement issued by the Khost provincial governor’s office initially offered different casualty numbers, saying that 33 people were killed — 27 civilians, including 12 children, and six members of the Afghan security forces. Those numbers were later confirmed. Another 12 members of the Afghan security forces were injured, according to the statement.
The suspected bombing occurred when many civilian vehicles were waiting to pass by on a main road, said an Afghan police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident.
The civilians killed and wounded were in vehicles waiting for their turn to pass, the officer added.
Foreign and Afghan troops blocked journalists and police from accessing the site after the blast. Pentagon officials referred comment to NATO authorities in Afghanistan.
In a statement, NATO said: “No US or coalition personnel were injured as a result of the attack,” without elaborating.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast near Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan. Since US and NATO troops ended their combat missions at the end of last year, local troops have been taking the brunt of attacks by the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
Camp Chapman, named after the first US soldier killed in combat in the war in Afghanistan, sits near Forward Operating Base Salerno, a large Soviet-built airfield that was targeted by a Taliban truck bombing in June 2012.
Camp Chapman was the site where seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed in a Pakistani Taliban suicide bombing in December 2009. Six more agency personnel were wounded in what was considered the most lethal attack for the CIA since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001 and possibly even since the 1983 embassy bombing in Beirut. It is not clear whether the CIA still operates out of Camp Chapman.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Afghan security officials said a pair of roadside bombings killed at least 12 civilians in the country’s east and north. The Taliban frequently uses roadside bombs and suicide attacks to target Afghan army or police forces across the country.
Additional reporting by AFP
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