Nato repels daring assaults on Afghan bases by insurgents in US uniform

Insurgents wearing US army uniforms launched an audacious co-ordinated attack on two major Nato bases in eastern Afghanistan early yesterday morning. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said the attacks were repelled with five insurgents captured and 24 killed, four of whom were wearing suicide vests. The Afghan Defence Ministry added that two Afghan soldiers were killed in the fighting and two wounded.

The assaults were on the sprawling Camp Salerno and nearby Camp Chapman in Khost at about 3am – just before morning prayers. The camps are about 60 miles south-east of Kabul, close to the border with Pakistan. The area is a hotbed of insurgent activity. In December seven CIA officers were killed in a suicide bombing on Camp Chapman – the worst attack on the CIA in 25 years.

In recent months the Taliban have been launching increasingly sophisticated guerrilla-style attacks on Nato bases, with similar assaults launched at Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

Afghan police said about 50 insurgents armed with rifles, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons were involved in the latest assault. Two insurgents did manage to breach the perimeter of Camp Salerno but were monitored as they cut the fence and were killed immediately.

"Coalition forces had the two insurgents under surveillance and when they cut the fence a quick reaction force was dispatched to the location, where they were killed," an Isaf statement said. Small-arms fire continued through the morning.

Major Wazir Pacha, of the provincial police headquarters, added that they had captured a pickup truck full of ammunition along with a light truck packed with explosives – which may have been intended for use in a suicide bombing – that had become stuck in deep mud. Bomb specialists later destroyed the truck and its cargo. After being repelled from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were driven off.

"Given the size of the enemy's force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it," Khost's provincial police chief, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, said.

Nato said the dead insurgents were members of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-affiliated group with strong ties to al-Qa'ida that is accused of launching frequent raids across the border from neighbouring Pakistan.

An airstrike on a truck in which insurgents were fleeing killed a senior Haqqani explosives expert suspected of arranging suicide bomb attacks, along with two other militants. Isaf said last week that it had captured a senior commander of the local Taliban network in Khost – although it is not clear whether the arrest is connected to the latest attacks.

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