Kabul, February 12: Taliban forces claimed responsibility today for an attack by a suicide bomber on a US military base near the Pakistani border that injured five Americans.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the attack yesterday night in eastern Afghanistan was conducted by an insurgent wearing the uniform of a border policeman.
“Last night, a Talib by the name of Mohammad Omar wore a border police uniform, entered the base and blew himself up,” he told The Associated Press by phone.
The attack occurred after sundown in a barracks at a US facility in the Dand aw Patan district in Paktia province, about 35 miles (70 kilometers) east of the provincial capital Gardez, according to provincial government spokesman Roullah Samoun.
Abdul Satar, an adviser to the Paktia Provincial Reconstruction Team, said a US delegation from Bagram had been sent to investigate the incident today.
–Agencies