Fatal suicide attack on Afghanistan base

Several suicide bombers have attacked a coalition base in southern Afghanistan, killing at least one soldier and injuring others, in the latest Taliban-led assault targeting Afghan and international forces.

Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said the attack took place on Monday against a base in Zhari district, just west of Kandahar city.

The soldier was a member of the International Security Alliance Forces deployed to the war-torn country. 

“One ISAF member has been killed in this attack,” a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

The fighters have recently intensified a campaign against Afghan and international forces as foreign troops withdraw this year.

The attack involved a car bomb, explosive vests and gunfire against the base and extensively damaged drones and helicopters that were on the airstrip.

Local media outlet TOLO news reported that one of the bombers was believed to be female, citing Afghan authorities.

Al Jazeera’s Jane Ferguson tweeted that the Taliban had told Al Jazeera: “You are not safe anywhere. Not in Kabul, not even in your bases.”

This comes a day after Afghanistan’s president said the US could no longer carry out military operations or air strikes and must jump-start peace talks with the Taliban before his country signs a security deal to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

Hamid Karzai made the statement after being presented with the findings of an investigation into a joint Afghan-US military operation last week that resulted in civilian casualties which he blamed on US soldiers.