Taliban hit largest Nato base

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Taliban gunmen armed with rockets and grenades attacked the largest Nato base in Afghanistan at dawn on Wednesday, sparking battles that killed 10 militants and wounded seven soldiers.
The audacious assault on Bagram Airfield came one day after a suicide car bomber killed five US soldiers, a Canadian colonel and 12 Afghans in Kabul, highlighting the relentless pace of the nearly nine-year insurgency. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying that 20 suicide bombers took part in the assault. The militia is known to exaggerate its claims and there was no other confirmation that suicide attackers were involved. Major Virginia McCabe, a press officer at Bagram, said the attack was still going on after 9.00 am but denied the insurgents had been able to penetrate the sprawling base, nor was she able to confirm they were suicide bombers.
“It is still going on, but it is sporadic now,” she said. “They targeted a gate but couldn’t enter, they didn’t enter.... Seven ISAF soldiers were wounded. Our soldiers’ response was pretty quick. More than 10 Taliban were killed,” she said. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the ongoing attack on Bagram “included rockets, small arms and grenades”. Around 60 km north of Kabul, Bagram is run primarily by the US military and is the biggest Nato base in the country.
With connecting flights across Afghanistan and abroad, the airfield is a transit hub for much of the 130,000-strong US-led Nato force, which is being boosted to 150,000 by August to step up the fight against the Taliban. The group of insurgents launched their attack at dawn, according to witnesses in Nawdeh village next to Bagram airfield who said they were forced awake by US military helicopters and the sounds of gunfire. “It was around 4.00 or 4.30 am,” said Zemarai Malikzada, in his 30s. “I saw American helicopters flying overhead, they were firing down and the terrorists were firing at them from there,” he said pointing to vineyards.