Taliban attack Afghanistan Nato bases

At least 24 Taliban-linked fighters were killed in attacks on two Nato bases in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, according to local officials. And international forces admitted killed two security contractors by mistake in the west of the country.

Reuters

The Taliban say that they sent 28 armed men and suicide bombers to attack on Forward Operating Bases Salerno and Chapman in Khost province, claiming that they entered the base. Other reports say that the attack was launched by the Haqqani network, which is allied to the Taliban.

Both Nato and local police chief Abdul Hakim Is’haqzai say the attackers were repelled and fell back to a school in Khost city which is near another smaller base.

A statement by the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said that troops had “repelled two failed attacks at bases in Khost province” after they had come under “indirect and small arms fire”, killing 24.

About 15 rebels were killed near Salerno, six near Chapman and three others including a rebel commander in an airstrike while retreating from battle in a vehicle, the statement added.

"While the majority of the attacking fighters were killed outside of the FOBs, two insurgents managed to breach the perimeter and made it onto FOB Salerno," the statement said.

Seven suicide bomb vests were also seized along with bomb-laden vehicles, the statement added.

"Five Taliban have been captured alive," Is'haqzai said.

But, he said, some injured Taliban "were still resisting" from positions in a cornfield near the school.

Two vehicles - one of them “packed with explosives” - were seized in the attack, according to Is'haqzai.

Forward Operating Base Chapman was the scene of the second-most deadly attack in the history of the US’s CIA spy agency, when seven agents were killed by a suicide bomber last December.

In Wardak province Isaf troops killed two private security contractors after a patrol came under attack on Friday.

A car with men shooting from the windows approached the patrol at high speed and the patrol opened fire on the vehicle.

“It is believed that the private security contractors were returning fire against the same insurgents who had just previously attacked the coalition vehicle and had increased their speed to break contact,” Isaf said.