Cheney targeted in Taliban attack
Reports say blast at the US base in Bagram killed at least 18 people.
“The 15 others are civilian Afghan workers who wanted to enter Bagram air base for their work. On injuries we do not have exact reports.”
| “We have reports of one US soldier having been killed”
Senior Master Sergeant Richard Simonsen, Bagram media office |
Senior Master Sergeant Richard Simonsen in the Bagram media office told Agence France-Presse: “We have reports of one US soldier having been killed.”
Al Jazeera’s correspondent at Bagram air base, Wali Allah Shahin, said witnesses saw the bomber on board one of the lorries carrying petrol into the base.
When the lorry was stopped for a security check, the bomber came out and blew himself up, witnesses said.
Shahin said journalists were being prevented from entering the base and the families of the victims had gathered in front of Bagram air base.
Qari Yusif Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban movement, told Al Jazeera in a phone call that Abd al-Rahim, the attacker, was from Logar province, southern Kabul.
The attack was targeting Cheney, Ahmadi said.
Kabul talks
Cheney’s visit comes as Washington warned that al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies were regrouping on Pakistan and Afghan soil.
The US has about 27,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, where it says defeating the Taliban is vital for its own security.
Last year was the bloodiest since the US-led forces ousted the Taliban government in 2001 for refusing to surrender Osama bin Laden in the wake of September 11.
Bolstered by money from record opium crops and safe havens in Pakistan, the Taliban have vowed a major offensive – including a dramatic increase in suicide attacks – in spring after the snows melt in coming weeks.
In Pakistan, Cheney pressed Pervez Musharraf, the president, to do more about Taliban and other militants using its territory for shelter and training.
Some 4,000 people were killed in fighting last year in the bloodiest period since the Taliban government was ousted in 2001.