Al Jazeera -- At least nine Afghans waiting for
work at a US military base have been killed in a
Taliban suicide attack near the city of Khost.
More than 20 people were hurt when the
bomber detonated a car filled with explosives outside
Camp Salerno in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Miakhall, a witness, told Al Jazeera: "There was a
white car next to us and we were going to work in the
base. Suddenly the explosion happened.
"People were running away. I saw lots of injuries
and dead. After a while the military came and took the
seriously wounded inside the base."
The attack came a day after Taliban fighters
created chaos in the centre of Khost, seizing
government buildings for several hours.
Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Afghan
capital, Kabul, said Wednesday's attack was the third
outside Camp Salerno in recent months.
"The Taliban have claimed responsibility and,
according to the Taliban, they killed a large number
of foreign and Afghan forces."
"A US spokesman tells us the Taliban 'dreams of
entering the base, but all they're doing is killing
Afghans'."
Distributed warning
A day earlier, the Taliban distributed leaflets in
a nearby mosque, telling Afghans they would be
"punished" if they continued to work for a US
construction firm which operates inside Salerno.
In Tuesday's attack on the Khost government
buildings, fighters barricaded themselves inside and
took a number of people hostage.
The government buildings were later retaken by Afghan
and US forces.
The Taliban said it had sent 30 suicide bombers to
Khost. Eight were killed on Tuesday and one carried
out the attack outside Salerno.
"If the Taliban's claims are true, 21 suicide bombers
remain in the area, waiting to strike," Khodr
reported.
"These are new, sophisticated tactics - to send a
group of fighters, armed with weapons and suicide
vests, to storm government buildings.
"They are trying to expose the weakness of Afghan
security forces and international troops."
Zamary Bashari, an interior ministry spokesman
speaking to Al Jazeera, described the security
situation in Khost as a "source of concern".
"Khost province is located on the the border with
Pakistan and the border there is open. We don't have
enough control because of difficult terrain.
"Police forces are protecting the border but there are
areas where the enemy can infiltrate into that
province.
"We hope that with new measures that the ministry of
interior have adopted, we'll be able to provide good
security."
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