Over 40 killed in Taliban attack

Explosive-packed Humvee detonated at Afghan military base

At least 43 Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban-claimed suicide attack on a military base in southern Afghanistan, officials said, the third assault on a security installation this week.

Only two soldiers were known to have survived unscathed after the attack on the base in the Chashmo area of Maiwand district, Kandahar province, the defence ministry said in a statement.

It added that nine other soldiers were wounded and six unaccounted for.

Defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said the attackers detonated at least one explosivepacked Humvee vehicle and razed the compound in an assault early yesterday morning.

“We think the militants used an explosive-packed Humvee vehicle to detonate the gate of the base and we are looking to see if there was more than one,” Waziri said.

“Unfortunately, there is nothing left inside the camp. They have burned down everything they found inside.”

The Taliban claimed the ambush in a message to journalists, which said all 60 security personnel on the base were killed.

Ten insurgents died, the ministry said.

“We have sent a delegation to assess the situation. The base is under Ana’s (Afghan National Army) control,” Waziri added.

It was the third suicide and gun attack on a security installation this week and took the total death toll to more than 120, including soldiers, police and civilians.

In each assault, the Taliban used a Humvee vehicle as a bomb to blast their way into their targets.

On Tuesday, two attacks in southeast Afghanistan killed 80 people and wounded nearly 300 in the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months.

The deadliest of Tuesday’s assaults was on a police compound in the city of Gardez, Paktia province, where Taliban militants dis- guised as police detonated three explosive-packed vehicles, including a truck and a Humvee, that cleared the way for 11 gunmen to enter.

At least 60 people, including Paktia police chief Toryalai Abdyani and civilians waiting to collect documents, were killed in the explosions and ensuing battle which lasted around five hours, health officials said, with more than 230 wounded.

In the second attack in the neighbouring province of Ghazni, some 100km west of Gardez, 15 members of the security forces and five civilians died while 46 others were wounded, officials said. — AFP