Zeenews Bureau
Kabul: In the latest attack on American military facilities in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber on Wednesday detonated his vehicle near a US base in Khost province in eastern Afghansitan.
At least three Afghans were killed and more injured when the vehicle exploded near the US base named Camp Chapman in Khost, the BBC reported.
The attack was claimed by the banned militant outfit Taliban.
"A militant driving an explosive-laden minibus tried to approach the eastern entrance of Khost airport where the military base is located but the attacker set off the explosive after being intercepted by the police," provincial police chief Abdul Qayum Baqizai was quoted by media as saying.
He said a policeman, two civilians and the bomber were killed in the attack which took place in the provincial capital of Khost city around 8 am, reported Xinhua.
A security official said seven people were also wounded in the explosion.
"...this morning insurgents detonated a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the vicinity of a coalition base named Camp Chapman in Khost province," a spokesman with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told Xinhua.
The province of Khost is the area where Taliban and Haqqani network are majorly active and they keep on staging deadly attacks.
Earlier in October, Taliban had carried out a major suicide attack killing 20, three of them being NATO soldiers.
In June, a suicide bomber killed 21 people in Khost, that included three US troops and a local interpreter.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an email that the bomber targeted Afghan police manning the gate and Afghans working for the Americans entering the base. He claimed high casualties were inflicted.
NATO operates with more than 100,000 troops in the country, including some 66,000 American forces. It is handing most combat operations over to the Afghans in preparation for a pullout from Afghanistan in 2014.
First Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2012, 11:24