Taliban attacks NATO airbase
Source: Agencies |
May 20, 2010, Thursday
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SUICIDE bombers carrying rockets and grenades launched a brazen pre-dawn attack on one of NATO's biggest military bases in Afghanistan yesterday, leaving at least seven guerrillas dead and six foreign troops wounded.
The attack on Bagram airbase, about an hour's drive north of Kabul and holding mainly US soldiers, began in the pre-dawn hours when Taliban insurgents blew themselves up near the base's gates.
It continued with sporadic fire of rockets and small arms outside the base. One rocket landed inside the base, causing minor damage, but no insurgents infiltrated Bagram, according to NATO.
Helicopter gunships hovered nearby.
"We're always prepared to deal with attacks on our base, the response this morning was immediate," said Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Counts, a spokesman for the Bagram base.
Four suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the base's gates. The Taliban said others managed to get inside, but the group often exaggerates their operations.
Senior police official Lutful Rahman said security forces were searching for one other bomber.
The fighting came the day after a suicide bomber attacked a NATO-led military convoy in Kabul, killing 12 Afghan civilians and six foreign soldiers, and may herald the start of an announced Taliban offensive against high-profile foreign targets.
The latest attacks may boost the stature of the Taliban after the arrests of some senior leaders early this year in Pakistan, combined with a belated announcement for the spring offensive, had some saying the insurgents were on the defensive.
The Taliban have announced an offensive from May 20 against the government, foreign forces and diplomats in Afghanistan in response to NATO plans for an operation against the group's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
"The Taliban are trying to show their reaction to the expected plan of NATO's operation in Kandahar in coming weeks" said Noor Ul-Haq Ulomi, a former general during the ex-communist regime in the 1980s.
"(They) want to show ahead of it that they are strong as before and even getting stronger ... They want to show that with their small groups they are able to conduct organized attacks on NATO forces in Kabul and on their base in Bagram," he said.
Bagram is the main base for the US-led soldiers in Afghanistan, with the country's largest airfield. It was used by the former Soviet Union during its invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The attack on Bagram airbase, about an hour's drive north of Kabul and holding mainly US soldiers, began in the pre-dawn hours when Taliban insurgents blew themselves up near the base's gates.
It continued with sporadic fire of rockets and small arms outside the base. One rocket landed inside the base, causing minor damage, but no insurgents infiltrated Bagram, according to NATO.
Helicopter gunships hovered nearby.
"We're always prepared to deal with attacks on our base, the response this morning was immediate," said Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Counts, a spokesman for the Bagram base.
Four suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the base's gates. The Taliban said others managed to get inside, but the group often exaggerates their operations.
Senior police official Lutful Rahman said security forces were searching for one other bomber.
The fighting came the day after a suicide bomber attacked a NATO-led military convoy in Kabul, killing 12 Afghan civilians and six foreign soldiers, and may herald the start of an announced Taliban offensive against high-profile foreign targets.
The latest attacks may boost the stature of the Taliban after the arrests of some senior leaders early this year in Pakistan, combined with a belated announcement for the spring offensive, had some saying the insurgents were on the defensive.
The Taliban have announced an offensive from May 20 against the government, foreign forces and diplomats in Afghanistan in response to NATO plans for an operation against the group's southern stronghold of Kandahar.
"The Taliban are trying to show their reaction to the expected plan of NATO's operation in Kandahar in coming weeks" said Noor Ul-Haq Ulomi, a former general during the ex-communist regime in the 1980s.
"(They) want to show ahead of it that they are strong as before and even getting stronger ... They want to show that with their small groups they are able to conduct organized attacks on NATO forces in Kabul and on their base in Bagram," he said.
Bagram is the main base for the US-led soldiers in Afghanistan, with the country's largest airfield. It was used by the former Soviet Union during its invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
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