Taliban strike major NATO base

Afghan residents look on as soldiers from 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles patrol through a village Wednesday in Nahr e Saraj, Helmand. Photo. AFP

Gunmen set off a car bomb and fired rocket-propelled grenades at one of the biggest NATO bases in Afghanistan Wednesday in a brazen daylight attack claimed by the hardline Islamist Taliban.

Several assailants were killed during the strike on the Jalalabad air base in eastern Afghanistan, and two service personnel were injured, according to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

"Jalalabad airfield is under attack," ISAF spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Iain Baxter told AFP as the battle was underway.

The assault came just days before US General David Petraeus is due to take up his post as NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed the attack in a telephone call to AFP.

"Afghan and ISAF forces repelled a number of insurgents when they attacked Jalalabad airfield this morning using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms fire," an ISAF statement said, adding that the assailants did not breach the base perimeter.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the government of the province of Nangarhar, of which Jalalabad is the capital, said suicide bombers were also involved in the strike.

Meanwhile, US Attorney General Eric Holder was in Kabul to discuss efforts to battle corruption and enforce the rule of law in Afghanistan.

"Fighting corruption and supporting the rule of law in Afghanistan are top priorities for this administration," Holder said in a statement issued by the US Department of Justice announcing his arrival in the Afghan capital. "We will continue to assist the Afghan government in creating and sustaining the effective criminal justice system to which the Afghan people are entitled."

However, just a day earlier, a senior US lawmaker blocked billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan, vowing not to give "one more dime" until Afghan President Hamid Karzai acts against graft.

Agencies