Taliban attack US base in Afghanistan

The Taliban have launched a major suicide attack against a NATO base at an Afghan city airport, killing three Afghan guards and wounding several foreign troops, officials said.

The Taliban claimed suicide bombers had entered the airport at Jalalabad, near the eastern border with Pakistan early Sunday, detonating explosives at the gate and sparking a gunbattle that lasted at least two hours.

The force of the explosions is reported to have blown out windows a kilometre away.

The Afghan officials said the first four attackers had arrived in explosive-laden cars and had targeted different entrances to the airfield, Others who had followed on foot battled security guards.

Local residents said helicopters had fired on the insurgents, but the fighting - which lasted about 20 minutes - then appears to have stopped.

In addition to the three members of the Afghan security forces who were killed, a Nato spokseman said several Afghan and Nato troops were also wounded.

The Taliban claimed it had carried out the attack, saying the assault was launched at around 06:00 (01:30 GMT) on Sunday.

A Taliban spokesman said a car bomb was detonated at the entrance to the base, before a second group of attackers, wearing Nato uniforms, were sent in.

Nato forces then responded with helicopters, and both Nato and Afghan officials said the attackers had not managed to enter the base itself.

Local police told Reuters that bodies in Afghan police and military uniforms were scattered around the entrance to the base, but it was unclear whether they were Taliban attackers in disguise.

Taliban insurgents have been battling Nato and Afghan troops for 11 years and still control parts of the east and south.

Nato - which currently has some 130,000 troops in Afghanistan - is due to withdraw combat forces in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, with only training troops remaining.