Three Afghans dead in new blast at US base
- Category: World News
- Published Date
- Written by Reuters
A suicide bomber killed three people in an attack on a US base in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the same base that is believed to be used by the CIA and which a suicide bomber attacked three years ago killing seven CIA employees.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the eastern town of Khost, saying they had sent a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives to the base.
“The target was those who serve Americans at that base,” said Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.
Afghanistan’s Nato-led force said the bomber did not get into the base nor breach its perimeter. Police said the three dead were Afghans who were outside the base, which is beside a military airport.
The al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, widely regarded as the most dangerous US foe in Afghanistan, is active in Khost province, which is on the Pakistani border.
After more than a decade of war, Taliban insurgents are still able to strike strategic military targets, and launch high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere.
Three years ago, an al Qaeda-linked Jordanian double-agent killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer in a suicide bombing at the same base in Khost, known as Forward Operating Base Chapman.
It was the second deadliest attack in CIA history.
Afghan police official General Abdul Qasim Baqizoy, the Khost police chief, said no CIA agents were hurt on Wednesday.
Afghan authorities are scrambling to improve security across the country before the US combat mission ends in 2014.—Reuters
