8 militants killed in fighting at airport outside Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan

8 militants killed in gunbattle at Afghan airport

KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants set off a car bomb and stormed the entrance to a major NATO air base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, authorities said. Eight insurgents died in the failed assault.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the third ground assault against a major coalition base in the past five weeks. The attacks failed to overrun the bases but showed that the Taliban have not been cowed by U.S. efforts to ramp up the war.

Using light weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, the militants battled U.S. and Afghan forces for 30 minutes around the airport on the outskirts of Jalalabad city, the media office at the airport said. White smoke rose from the scene.

An Afghan solider and one international service member were wounded in the fighting, NATO said.

“They were not able to breach the perimeter. They were fought off by a combination of Afghan and coalition security forces,” German army Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, a spokesman for NATO, told reporters.

The airport, which includes a major military base shared by Afghans and the international force, on a main road that leads to the Pakistani border.

In a text message to The Associated Press in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said six suicide attackers killed 32 foreign and Afghan security forces at the airport, about 80 miles (125 kilometers) east of the Afghan capital. The insurgents often claim higher numbers of deaths in their attacks than the official toll.

The Jalalabad attack follows a May 19 ground assault against the giant Bagram Air Field north of Kabul and a similar attack three days later against Kandahar Air Field in the south.

In a separate incident in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said a U.S. trooper died of wounds sustained in a gunbattle with insurgents. NATO did not provide other details. The death brought to 59 the number of American troops who have died in June.

Wednesday also marked the first anniversary of the capture of Spc. Bowe W. Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, the only American service member held prisoner by the insurgents. Bergdahl was discovered missing during his unit’s roll-call the following day.

“Since he was captured on June 30, 2009, it has been a top priority for U.S. and coalition forces to find him, recover him, and bring him home safely,” said Rear Adm. Greg Smith, deputy chief of staff for communication. “We continue our efforts to determine his whereabouts and ensure his safe return.”

Elsewhere in the east, U.S. and Afghan forces battled hundreds of militants from an al-Qaida-linked group for a third day Tuesday in Kunar province, the U.S. military said. Two American soldiers were killed Sunday in the first day of the operation.

The attack in Kunar was directed against insurgents believed responsible for a roadside bombing that killed five American service members in the area on June 7, a U.S. statement said.

The militants were believed to be members of the Haqqani group, a faction of the Taliban based in Pakistan that has close ties to al-Qaida. About 600 U.S. and Afghan troops are taking part in the operation, the U.S. statement said.

In western Afghanistan, two patients waiting for a doctor were wounded Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated his vest of explosives behind a clinic in the Dularam district of Farah province, said Gen. Abdul Jabar Pardeli, chief of police in neighboring Nimroz province. He said the intended target was not known.

On Monday, four Afghan National Police officers were killed by a roadside bomb in the same district, the Ministry of Interior said.

On Tuesday in Kabul, an Afghan man working for the United Nations was shot and killed in his vehicle near a busy traffic circle.

The man was driving a white pickup truck with the blue U.N. logo painted on the side. Another Afghan member of the U.N. staff who was in the vehicle was not wounded, the U.N. said.

The morning shooting occurred in heavy traffic near Massoud circle, an intersection near the U.S. Embassy and an American military base.

Blotz said Wednesday that it remains unclear whether the U.N. vehicle was the intended target of the shooting.

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb wounded seven civilians in the Arghistan district of Kandahar and another bomb killed two civilians and wounded two others in Khakrez district, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said.

Afghan and international forces are ramping up security in and around Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.

Blotz said 43 insurgents were killed or captured in a three-day operation aimed at disrupting insurgents in Panjwai district of Kandahar province, where they have plotted attacks on Kandahar city. In the past two months, joint forces have reportedly captured more than 115 suspected insurgents, including more than 15 mid- and senior-level militant leaders, and destroyed four roadside mine factories.

Associated Press Writer Amir Shah contributed to this report.