Taliban attack US base near Pakistan border

JALALABAD - Agence France-Presse

Smoke rises from NATO supply trucks following an attack by militants in the Torkham area near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Jalalabad. AP photo

Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen dressed as Afghan police attacked Sept.2 a U.S. base near the Pakistani border, sparking a shootout that left all three assailants dead, officials said.

No member of the NATO mission in Afghanistan was killed in the assault on the base in Nangarhar province, said a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). “There were a series of explosions that occurred in the vicinity of a forward operating base in Nangarhar province,” an ISAF spokesman said. “There were three enemy forces killed during the attack. We can confirm that no ISAF personnel were killed as a result of this incident,” it said in a statement. NATO combat troops are gradually withdrawing from Afghanistan and are due to finish their mission completely by the end of 2014, after presidential elections next April.