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Kabul (AFP) June 30, 2010 Gunmen Wednesday set off a car bomb and fired rockets at a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, as a soldier with the alliance died from injuries suffered in an attack in the same region. Responsibility for the brazen daylight attack on the Jalalabad air base was claimed by the hardline Islamist Taliban. Several assailants were killed during the attack and two service personnel were injured, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "Jalalabad airfield is under attack," ISAF spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Iain Baxter told AFP as the battle was under way. A local official said at least six insurgents were involved in the raid and that all had been killed. The assault came just days before US General David Petraeus is due to take up his post as NATO commander in Afghanistan, after warning of a "tough fight" ahead in the nearly nine-year conflict. Concerns about the progress of the war against the hardline Islamist Taliban have mounted following the dramatic sacking of Petraeus's predecessor, US General Stanley McChrystal, and an increasing death toll among foreign troops. The dramatic surge in military deaths has raised concerns over what many think is the Taliban gaining strength despite the deployment of thousands of US reinforcements. ISAF announced the death of its 102nd soldier this month, saying he died Wednesday from injuries suffered in an attack in eastern Afghanistan. It did not disclose the exact location or any further details of the incident. Hundreds of NATO and Afghan troops have been hunting Taliban insurgents in a major assault in the mountains of Kunar, which neighbours Nangarhar, in the east of the country close to the border with Pakistan. In a telephone call to AFP, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar -- the latest strike to against NATO bases in Afghanistan in recent weeks. An ISAF statement said: "Afghan and ISAF forces repelled a number of insurgents when they attacked Jalalabad airfield this morning using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms fire." The statement added that the assailants did not breach the base perimeter. Several insurgents were killed, it said, without disclosing how or how many, adding that two members of the security force were injured. Their nationalities were not given. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a provincial administration spokesman, said suicide bombers were also involved in the strike. Afghan officials say militants receive training in Al-Qaeda-run safe havens on the Pakistan side of the border. Islamabad denies the charges. With 2,700 military and civilian personnel Jalalabad is one of NATO's largest bases in Afghanistan, after Kandahar in the south and Bagram, north of Kabul, which have both been attacked by insurgents in recent months. Last month, the Taliban attacked the base in Kandahar, heartland of the Islamists' insurgency and focus of a US-led campaign to eradicate the militants. A similar attack in May on Bagram airfield about 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Kabul triggered several hours of fighting, resulting in the deaths of an American contract worker and 16 militants. A total of 102 NATO troops serving in Afghanistan have been killed in June, making it the deadliest month for the alliance since the US-led invasion of 2001 that ousted the hardline Islamist Taliban. The toll for the year to date is 320, compared with 520 in all of 2009, according to an AFP tally based on figures kept by the independent icasualties.org website. NATO has seen a dramatic upswing in casualties as the alliance steps up military operations and taking the fight to the Taliban in areas where the Islamist militia has previously been unchallenged. The United States and NATO have a combined 140,000 troops in Afghanistan, set to peak at 150,000 by August under McChrystal's "surge" strategy. Petraeus, who is expected in Afghanistan at the weekend, sought to reassure an anxious US Congress on Tuesday that the NATO-led troops are making headway in Afghanistan, amid fraying public support for the war. Wednesday's attack also coincided with a visit by US Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss anti-corruption efforts, just days after billions of dollars in US aid was blocked because of concerns over graft.
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