Attack on US base kills two soldiers

KABUL (Reuters/AFP) - An attack on the main US base in Afghanistan killed two soldiers of the Nato-led force on Sunday, the alliance said, in the first known casualties caused by hostile fire on the base since the Taliban’s ouster.
At least six other soldiers were wounded in the strike on Bagram airfield which lies some 50km north of Kabul and serves as the hub of operations for some 57,000 US troops in Afghanistan, Nato said in a statement.
A spokesman for Nato the airfield was functioning, but could not confirm or deny whether the casualties caused by Sunday’s attack were the first of their kind since US troops have been stationed there after toppling the Taliban from power in late 2001.
The statement said it was unclear if there were civilian casualties among Afghans living near the base.
Nato has not identified the nationality of the casualties, but most foreign troops based in Bagram are US soldiers, part of the 57,000-strong US force who along with some 33,000 Nato troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban.
Zabihullah Mujahed, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility on behalf of the group, saying the rockets were fired from nearby mountains.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said eight civilians, including women, were killed by a roadside bomb in the southern province of Zabul on Saturday. Thirteen others were injured in the blast, the ministry said in a statement.