Taliban attack NATO base in eastern Afghanistan

Nato's Isaf was unable to confirm reports that a US-run base in Khost province had come under attack.

A Nato base in volatile eastern Afghanistan came under attack early on Saturday from possible Taliban militants, police in the region said.

Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) was unable to confirm reports that a US-run base in Khost province had come under attack but said it was investigating the reports.

"From what I understand it is still ongoing, we are getting details," a spokeswoman told AFP.

Local police chief Adbul Hakim Is'haqzai told AFP that Taliban militants had first attacked Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno before retreating to occupy a secondary school in Khost city, the provincial capital. The school was near a smaller US-run base, FOB Chapman, he said.

Seven CIA agents were killed in a Taliban attack on FOB Chapman in December, in what was the worst attack on US intelligence officials since 1983, when the US embassy in Beirut was bombed.

The Saturday attack began when insurgents launched rockets and gunfire on Salerno in the early hours of the morning, Is'haqzai said.

"There are gunshots being heard all around my home. I'm scared of the attackers entering my home and of being bombarded by coalition forces," said resident Amir Shah, whose home is near the Gharghast High School in Khost.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed contacted AFP to say the insurgent group had despatched suicide bombers to the base.

"Twenty-eight Taliban suicide bombers have launched an attack on a coalition base in Khost," he said from an undisclosed location. "They have entered the base," he said.