The number of insurgents killed during a brazen attack by Taliban militants on the largest NATO base in Afghanistan rose to 16, Fox News Channel reported Friday. Seven NATO soldiers were wounded in the attack, and five insurgents were detained.
Taliban militants armed with rockets, guns and grenades attacked Bagram air base on Wednesday, a day after a suicide car bombing killed five U.S. soldiers, a Canadian colonel and 12 Afghans, AFP reported.
Among those killed in the car bombing were four high-ranking NATO officers who were in Kabul on a brief visit: two full colonels, one American and the Canadian; and two American lieutenant colonels.
Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman called the Wednesday assault on Bagram a “coordinated attack” on the perimeter of the base.
Located around 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Kabul, Bagram is run primarily by the U.S. military and is the biggest NATO airbase in the country. It is a transit hub for tens of thousands of troops serving in the 130,000-strong U.S.-led NATO force.
Bagram has acquired notoriety across Afghanistan and the Muslim world as the location of a U.S.-run prison that the military opened following the U.S.-led invasion that brought down the Taliban regime in late 2001.
The entrance to the base was last hit by a double attack in March 2009 that wounded three civilians.