Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Afghanistan suicide bombing kills 8 American civilians

Reporting from Washington - Eight American civilians were killed today when a lone suicide bomber struck a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

The attack, which took place at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khowst province, also injured an undisclosed number of civilians, the officials said. No military personnel from U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces were killed or injured in the attack, they said.

Officials declined further immediate comment today, saying many details of the attack remained unclear and that relatives had not yet been notified. Asked by Reuters news service if the blast occurred inside the base, one official said: "That's my understanding."

Khowst province, which is located on the Pakistani border, has been a prime target of attacks from militants operating in eastern Afghanistan and just across the border in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The base is part of NATO's Regional Command East, which is supervised by the U.S. military. It also houses Western civilians working on reconstruction projects in the war-torn nation.

No comments:

Post a Comment