Taliban claims responsibility for blasts that kill 14 people

THE Taliban claimed responsibility yesterday for bombings that killed 14 people, including eight Americans and an Afghan in a suicide attack in the volatile east, and five Canadians in the south. CIA employees were believed to be among the victims.

It was unclear how the bomber at US Forward Operating Base Chapman at the edge of Khost city was able to circumvent security. Khost is the capital of Khost province, which borders Pakistan and is a Taliban stronghold.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement that an Afghan National Army officer wearing a suicide vest entered the base and blew himself up inside the gym. A US official who was briefed on Wednesday’s blast also said it took place in the gym.

The explosion killed eight American civilians and one Afghan, the worst loss of life for the US in the country since October. Six Americans were wounded, the official said.

Separately, four Canadian soldiers and a journalist embedded in their unit were killed by a roadside bomb in the southern Kandahar province, the bloodiest single incident suffered by the Canadian military in 2009.

Michelle Lang, a 34-year-old health reporter with the Calgary Herald, was the first Canadian journalist to die in Afghanistan. She arrived in the country just two weeks ago.

There was no independent confirmation that the bomber in the attack on the US base was a member of the Afghan military. Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defence, said no Afghan National Army soldiers are at the base. However, an Afghan official in Khost said the US has hired about 200 Afghans to help with security at the base. They are usually deployed on the outer ring of its walls, although some work inside, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

“It’s not the first time that Afghan forces have conducted such an attack to kill Americans or foreigners,” the Taliban statement said, citing the alleged killing of an American soldier and the wounding of two Italians this week in Badghis province. NATO has provided no details of that incident, but Afghan general Jalander Shah Bahnam said an Afghan soldier opened fire on a base in the Bala Murghab district.

A US congressional official said CIA employees were believed to be among the victims of Wednesday’s attack. The CIA has not yet commented on or confirmed the deaths.

A former senior CIA officer who was stationed at the base said a combination of agency officers and contractors operated out of the remote outpost with the military and other agencies. All US officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss the matter with media.