Alwaght- Six-US troops have been killed during an attack by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan’s Bagram base outside the capital Kabul.
The terrorist group carried out the attack on the US troops on Monday concurrently with a broad offensive in the Helmand province, in south-eastern Afghanistan.
The attacks targeting foreign troops happened in a village near the Bagram airbase. A suicide bomber on a motorbike approached a joint US-Afghan patrol and set off an explosive device. Local authorities and NATO confirmed that six of its troops were killed, with six more wounded, including several local policemen.
Hours after the attack, three rockets hit the diplomatic district of Kabul where the Taliban launched a suicide attack on a Spanish embassy guesthouse just over a week ago. There was no immediate information on casualties or damage.
The attack on a joint patrol of NATO and Afghan forces near Bagram, the largest US military base in Afghanistan, also injured three others and was claimed by the Taliban.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which coincides with a major insurgency push in Helmand Province. Over 90 security troops have been killed over the past two days as the militants threaten to take over the volatile southern province, according to deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar.
Fighting in Helmand, where the Taliban presence is strong, intensified about two months ago. The group took over the entire Sangin district except the police headquarters on Monday, police chief Mohammad Dawood said.
On Sunday, The deputy provincial governor for southern Helmand province of Afghanistan Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar warned that the region might fall to Taliban terrorists if the central government fails to take immediate action.
In an online post addressed to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Rasoulyar warned that Helmand will soon fall to Taliban terrorists.
Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity nearly 14 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.
