NATO base attacked by insurgents

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan

Insurgents firing rockets, mortars and automatic weapons launched a ground assault Saturday against NATO’s biggest base in southern Afghanistan, wounding several coalition troops and civilian employees in the second such attack on a major military installation this week, officials said.

A Canadian Press news agency report from the Kandahar Air Field said artillery and machine-gun fire reverberated through the base, about 300 miles southwest of Kabul, several hours after the attack began. Militants unleashed rockets and mortars about 8 p.m. and then tried unsuccessfully to storm the northern perimeter, officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault — the third major attack on NATO forces in Afghanistan in six days — but the Kandahar area is a Taliban stronghold.

On Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in the capital, killing 18 people including six NATO service members (five Americans and a Canadian).

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