Kabul, June 30: Militants set off a car bomb and stormed the entrance to a major NATO air base in eastern Afghanistan today, authorities said. Eight insurgents died in the failed assault.
 The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the third ground assault against a major coalition base in the past five weeks. The attacks failed to overrun the bases but showed that the Taliban have not been cowed by US efforts to ramp up the war.
 Using light weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, the militants battled US and Afghan forces for 30 minutes around the airport on the outskirts of Jalalabad city, the media office at the airport said. White smoke rose from the scene.
 An Afghan solider and one international service member were wounded in the fighting, NATO said.
 “They were not able to breach the perimeter. They were fought off by a combination of Afghan and coalition security forces,” German army Brig Gen Josef Blotz, a spokesman for NATO, told reporters.
 The airport, which includes a major military base shared by Afghans and the international force, on a main road that leads to the Pakistani border.
 In a text message to The Associated Press in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said six suicide attackers killed 32 foreign and Afghan security forces at the airport, about 80 miles (125 kilometres) east of the Afghan capital.
 The insurgents often claim higher numbers of deaths in their attacks than the official toll.
 The Jalalabad attack follows a May 19 ground assault against the giant Bagram Air Field north of Kabul and a similar attack three days later against Kandahar Air Field in the south.
 In a separate incident in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said a US trooper died of wounds sustained in a gunbattle with insurgents. NATO did not provide other details. The death brought to 59 the number of American troops who have died in June.
(AP)

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST