Four Americans killed, 17 injured in Nato airbase suicide blast

Four Americans were killed and 17 people, 16 of them American, were injured when a Taliban suicide bomber dressed as a labourer blew himself up at a Nato airbase in Afghanistan on Saturday.

In a statement, US Defence secretary Ash Carter said two members of the armed services and two contractors had died in the attack.

A further 16 US service members and one Polish soldier were injured, he added.

“I am deeply saddened to learn that an explosion early this morning at Bagram airfield in Afghanistan has resulted in US casualties. An apparent suicide bomber has taken the lives of two US service members and two US contractors working on the base,” Carter said.

The Taliban said one of their fighters had carried out the attack, a major security breach in one of the best protected places in Afghanistan. Bagram has been targeted by militants in the past but this is the first time a bomb has exploded inside the base.

“An explosive device was detonated on Bagram airfield resulting in multiple casualties,” the Nato-led mission to Afghanistan said in an initial statement. “Response teams at Bagram continue to treat the wounded and investigate the incident.”

Waheed Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Parwan provincial governor, said the bomber detonated a suicide vest after entering the heavily protected site, the largest US base in the country.  The attacker was reportedly standing in a queue with labourers at Bagram airfield, north of Kabul, when he detonated the explosives.

Those killed and wounded in Saturday’s attack were not immediately named.

A local government spokesman said the attacker had entered the base early in the morning and was among Afghan labourers reporting for duty when he detonated his vest.

Carter said he was “deeply saddened” by the US casualties and promised an investigation.

“Force protection is always a top priority for us in Afghanistan, and we will investigate this tragedy to determine any steps we can take to improve it … For those who carried out this attack, my message is simple. We will not be deterred in our mission to protect our homeland and help Afghanistan secure its own future.”

The attack underlines the foreign policy challenge that will face US president-elect Donald Trump when he takes office in January. It followed a suicide attack on the German consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif late on Thursday night, which killed four people and wounded more than 100. That attack was in retaliation for airstrikes near the northern city of Kunduz last week that killed more than 30 civilians.

Barack Obama had hoped to have all US forces out of Afghanistan by the end of his term, but was forced to abandon that aim as Afghan forces struggled to contain the Taliban insurgency.