Taliban fighters launched a brazen early morning attack on a main American air field in eastern Afghanistan in the latest audacious assault on a coalition super base.
Militants detonated a car bomb at a gate to the base in Jalalabad and then tried to storm in using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades provoking a half-hour gun battle.
Nato-led forces said the attack had failed to penetrate the base perimeter and a foreign and Afghan soldier had received only minor wounds.
Airport authorities said eight attackers died. A Taliban spokesman who gave his name as Zabiullah Mujahid said the movement had carried out the attack with six suicide attackers.
Jalalabad airfield is one of the largest bases in eastern Afghanistan and regularly comes under rocket attack. However, today's ground assault is believed to be the largest attack in some time.
An upswing in violence this summer has seen 101 coalition forces killed this month, making June their deadliest month of the war so far.
It comes just a day after US Gen David Petraeus warned of a "tough fight" against the Taliban in the coming months.
Gen Petraeus, who was made Nato commander in Afghanistan following the sacking of Stanley McChrystal for insubordination, is due to visit the country at the weekend.
Bagram and Kandahar airfields, the two largest bases in Afghanistan, both suffered rare frontal assaults in May, though both attacks were easily repelled.
A military spokesman said: "The airfield's perimeter was not breached, and several insurgents were killed during the attack." "While designed to garner media attention, this attack only temporarily disrupted operations as our forces successfully repelled the attack," said Capt Jane Campbell.
Also in eastern Afghanistan, a force of 600 United States and Afghan soldiers battled a large force of militants in the remote mountainous province of Kunar for a third day.
Earlier this week the coalition was reported to have killed up to 150 militants in heavy fighting to clear the district of Marawara, where a large force of Haqqani fighters had gathered.
The fighting was described as "one of the most intense battles of the past year".
The attack in Kunar was directed against insurgents believed responsible for the roadside bombing that killed five American service members in the area on June 7.
Militants detonated a car bomb at a gate to the base in Jalalabad and then tried to storm in using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades provoking a half-hour gun battle.
Nato-led forces said the attack had failed to penetrate the base perimeter and a foreign and Afghan soldier had received only minor wounds.
Airport authorities said eight attackers died. A Taliban spokesman who gave his name as Zabiullah Mujahid said the movement had carried out the attack with six suicide attackers.
Jalalabad airfield is one of the largest bases in eastern Afghanistan and regularly comes under rocket attack. However, today's ground assault is believed to be the largest attack in some time.
An upswing in violence this summer has seen 101 coalition forces killed this month, making June their deadliest month of the war so far.
It comes just a day after US Gen David Petraeus warned of a "tough fight" against the Taliban in the coming months.
Gen Petraeus, who was made Nato commander in Afghanistan following the sacking of Stanley McChrystal for insubordination, is due to visit the country at the weekend.
Bagram and Kandahar airfields, the two largest bases in Afghanistan, both suffered rare frontal assaults in May, though both attacks were easily repelled.
A military spokesman said: "The airfield's perimeter was not breached, and several insurgents were killed during the attack." "While designed to garner media attention, this attack only temporarily disrupted operations as our forces successfully repelled the attack," said Capt Jane Campbell.
Also in eastern Afghanistan, a force of 600 United States and Afghan soldiers battled a large force of militants in the remote mountainous province of Kunar for a third day.
Earlier this week the coalition was reported to have killed up to 150 militants in heavy fighting to clear the district of Marawara, where a large force of Haqqani fighters had gathered.
The fighting was described as "one of the most intense battles of the past year".
The attack in Kunar was directed against insurgents believed responsible for the roadside bombing that killed five American service members in the area on June 7.
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