Afghanistan Burqa-clad insurgents attack Kabul base Apr 02 11.

Insurgents clad in burqas attacked a coalition base in Kabul with guns and rocket-propelled grenades on Saturday (April 2) but were killed either when they detonated their explosives or by Afghan or coalition fire outside the entrance, NATO and police said.

Three "friendly forces" -- NATO or Afghan troops -- were lightly wounded in the assault on Camp Phoenix, a large base near the capital's airport, but no civilians or soldiers were killed.

"Three suicide bombers wearing burqa targeted the Camp Phoenix (U.S. military base) they parked their car nearby the camps. Two of them blown themselves up and the third one were shot dead by camp security guard," said general Mohammad Ayub Salangi, who is the Kabul police chief.

The assault was launched a day after protesters enraged by the burning of a Koran by an obscure U.S. pastor over-ran a U.N. compound and killed at least seven international staff in the worst-ever attack on the United Nations in Afghanistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the latest attack on Camp Phoenix. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said seven attackers had targeted the base, but the group often exaggerates its operations.

A spokesman for NATO-led forces said there were two insurgent attackers, and only one was a possible suicide bomber. Eyewitnesses said they heard at least two explosions.

The body of one attacker was still lying in the dust outside the gate hours after the early morning attack. Police had cordoned off the road around the base.

Camp Phoenix, which lies on the busy road to the eastern city of Jalalabad, has undergone previous attacks, including in late 2009 when a car bomb there wounded 9 NATO soldiers.

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Tags:

• Burqa
• clad
• insurgents
• attack
• Kabul
• base
• Apr
• 02
• 11