11th December, 2019
Several militants and one Afghan woman were killed and 62 civilians wounded after militants launched bomb attacks outside the south wall of a main U.S. and NATO military base, Bagram Airbase in the eastern province of Parwan on Wednesday.
Two massive explosions occurred roughly at 05:50 a.m. local time when the first group of attackers exploded two car bombs. Scores of houses, shops and a mosque were damaged, local Tolo News TV reported.
“The second group of militants seized an abandoned health facility. They tried to target foreign forces and attack the military base with heavy weapons,” the report said.
“Preliminary findings showed seven attackers were involved in the incident. One attacker was captured and militants failed to detonate two explosive-laden vehicles at the scene,” the report said.
“The explosions occurred in Janqadam, a locality adjacent of Bagram airbase. The injured were shifted to hospitals in Bagram district, provincial capital Charikar city and national capital Kabul,” district chief Abdul Shakor Qudosi told the TV.
The wall of the base has absorbed the force of explosions but the blasts still caused massive destruction, the official said, adding “most of the wounded were affected by flying glasses, debris and shrapnel.”
Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of any official statement.
In the meantime, a coalition spokesman told local media that “enemy forces conducted an attack on Bagram airfield this morning, targeting a medical facility being constructed to help the Afghans living near the base.”
He noted that the attack was quickly contained and repelled by Afghan security forces and their coalition partners.
The medical facility was badly damaged, he said, adding “there were no U.S. or Coalition casualties and Bagram remained secure throughout the attack,” he added.
In the meantime, Nasrat Rahimi, spokesman of Afghan Interior Ministry, told Xinhua earlier on Wednesday that details about the incident will be shared with media soon, as an investigation is still on into the incident.
Afghan troops and U.S. forces sealed off the area following the attack.
The blasts caused a plume of gray smoke to rise above the scene and the sound of the blasts was heard in Kabul.
Located in the Bagram district, Parwan province, the Bagram military base, some 50 km north of Afghan capital of Kabul, has been serving as a main U.S. and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 18 years.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
The airbase has been attacked by Taliban militants who regularly fired rockets into the facility. In early April, three U.S. service members were killed and eight people were wounded after a Taliban suicide car bomb hit a military convoy near the base.
Reported by Xinhua