Insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn assault today against the giant Bagram air field in Afghanistan one day after a suicide bomber struck a US convoy in the capital of Kabul, killing 18 people.
The Kabul dead included five American troops and a Canadian and was the deadliest attack on Nato in the Afghan capital in eight months.
The back-to-back attacks appeared part of a Taliban offensive that the insurgents announced earlier this month - even as the US and its partners prepare for a major operation to restore order in the turbulent south. The insurgent attacks against both the capital and a major American military installation show the militants are prepared to strike at the heart of the US-led mission.
A US statement said seven insurgents had been killed so far during the "ongoing attack" on Bagram, which included rockets, small arms and grenades. Five service members have been wounded, the statement said without specifying whether they were Americans.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Bagram, 50 kilometres north of Kabul. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said 20 suicide attackers carried out the attack.
Capt Chris Sukach, a US spokeswoman at Bagram, said a "noncritical building" had been hit in the attack, which began about 3 am. Another US spokeswoman, Ali Bettencourt, said sporadic explosions could be still heard around the base hours after the attack.
An Afghan provincial police commander, Gen Abdul Rahman Sayedkhail, said the attack began when US guards spotted would-be attackers in a car just outside the Bagram base. The Americans opened fire, triggering a gunbattle in which at least one militant triggered his suicide vest. Running gunbattles broke out as US troops hunted down the other attackers.
In February 2007, a suicide bombing killed more than 20 people at a Bagram security gate while the then vice president Dick Cheney was inside the base. Mr Cheney was unhurt but the Taliban said he was the target.
The Bagram assault occurred following the deadliest day of the year for US forces in Afghanistan with seven Americans dead - including two who died in separate attacks in the south. The dead in the Kabul attack included Colonel Geoff Parker (42), the highest-ranking member of the Canadian Forces to die in Afghanistan since the Canadian mission began in 2002, the country's military said.
Twelve Afghan civilians also died in the Monday blast - many of them on a public bus in rush-hour traffic along a major thoroughfare that runs by the ruins of a one-time royal palace and government ministries. At least 47 people were wounded, the Interior Ministry said.
The blast was the first major attack in the Afghan capital since February and followed a Taliban announcement of a spring offensive even as the US gears up for a major push to restore order in the turbulent south.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Kabul blast, saying that the bomber was a man from the capital and that the vehicle was packed with 750 kg of explosives.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai joined the US and Nato in condemning the attack, which he said killed women and children.
The explosion, which thundered across the capital, happened about 8am as streets were packed with cars, buses and trucks. The bomb ripped apart vehicles and hurled body parts along the street. US and Afghan forces blocked off the area as emergency workers loaded the wounded into ambulances.
A US army spokesman said five American service members were killed in the Kabul blast. That plus the two deaths in the south brought the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan since the war began in 2001 to at least 994, according to an Associated Press count.
The Kabul attack was the heaviest loss of life for Nato in a single attack in the capital since September 17th last, when a suicide car bomber killed six Italian soldiers. For US forces, it was the bloodiest day since October 27th, when nine Americans died in separate attacks in central and southern Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the Taliban announced a new offensive - "Operation Al-Fatah" or "Victory" - which would target Nato forces, foreign diplomats, contractors and Afghan government officials.