KABUL, Afghanistan | Insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn assault Wednesday against the giant U.S.-run Bagram Air Field, killing an American contractor and wounding nine troops in the second Taliban strike at NATO forces in and around the capital in as many days.
Small groups of suicide bombers — some wearing uniforms that appeared to match those of U.S. or NATO forces — tried to storm the base’s defenses, while others fired rockets, grenades and guns over the walls into the base, said Maj. Virginia McCabe, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces at Bagram.
No insurgents made it inside the base, but blasts and gunbattles raged for eight hours as U.S. soldiers hunted the attackers down in the surrounding fields north of Kabul, she said.
At least 10 of the insurgents died, according to Maj. McCabe. Five of them were killed by air strikes, said Lutf Rahman Reshad, an Afghan police official in Bagram district.
Maj. McCabe said that helicopters were out in a supporting role, but she could not confirm if air strikes killed any of the insurgents or even if any of them fired.
U.S. forces said the base was undamaged except for “minor” damage to one building not considered strategically important. There were no details about the dead contractor.
The Bagram attack came a day after a suicide bomber struck a U.S. convoy in Kabul, killing 18 people. The dead included five American troops and a Canadian, making it the most lethal attack on NATO in the Afghan capital in eight months.
The back-to-back assaults underscore the militants’ intent to strike at the heart of the U.S.-led mission. The attacks appear to be part of an offensive announced by the Taliban this month to target NATO forces, foreign diplomats, contractors and Afghan government officials.
For its part, NATO is preparing for a major operation to restore order in the turbulent south.
In the latest violence in the south, a NATO service member died in a bomb attack Wednesday, the military alliance said in a statement. It did not provide details.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for both the Kabul bombing and the attack at Bagram, 30 miles north of Kabul. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said 20 suicide attackers were involved in the Bagram attack.
Maj. McCabe said the number of attackers was unclear but that it was somewhere around 20 or 30.
An Afghan provincial police commander, Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhail, said the attack began when U.S. guards spotted would-be attackers in a car just outside the base.
The Americans opened fire, triggering a gunbattle in which at least one militant triggered his suicide vest. Running gunbattles broke out as U.S. troops hunted down the other attackers.
Four of the slain insurgents had intended to be suicide bombers, U.S. forces said in a statement.
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