Suicide bomber targets US base

Three Afghan civilians were killed in the blast outside US-run Forward Operating Base Chapman on Wednesday in a suburban area of Khost city, which is in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province.

"Three Afghan nationals are killed and seven Afghan nationals are wounded. We have no report of coalition casualties right now," Major Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said.

Islamist Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the blast saying they sent a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives to the base.

"The target was those who serve Americans at that base," said Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.

Khost province shares a border with Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, an area which is widely believed to be a key source of fighters, funds and supplies for the Taliban.

In December 2009, an al Qaeda-linked Jordanian double-agent killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer in a suicide bombing at the same base. It was the second deadliest attack in CIA history.

On Monday, an Afghan policewoman killed a US police adviser at the Kabul police headquarters, in what appeared to be the first insider attack carried out by a female member of Afghanistan's security forces.

All NATO combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

hc/pfd (Reuters, AFP, dpa)