US Afghan base comes under attack

Rockets and small arms fire hit a US military base in southeastern Afghanistan today, prompting the Americans to respond with bombing by attack aircraft.

The raid began around dawn when unidentified attackers fired six rockets at a base in Lwara, a town near the Pakistani border that is home to US special operations forces.

There were no US casualties.

The Americans fired back with guns and mortar rounds, and A-10 Groundhog aircraft dropped four 250 pound bombs and fired high-explosive rounds in pursuit of the attackers.

US bases have come under frequent rocket fire at bases in the area south of Kabul, near the border with Pakistan, one of the most active fronts in the campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Elsewhere, gunmen wearing burqas - the all encompassing outfits that the Taliban ordered all women to wear - fired shots and threw at least one grenade at a Kandahar vegetable market where Afghan soldiers were shopping today.

Two soldiers were badly injured.