Nearly 80 American soldiers were wounded and five Afghans civilians were killed in a Taliban truck bombing targeting an American base in eastern Afghanistan, Nato said Sunday, a stark reminder that the war in Afghanistan still rages 10 years after the September 11 terror attacks against the United States.
No US soldiers were killed in Saturday night's bombing, which took place hours after the Taliban vowed to keep fighting US forces in Afghanistan until all American troops leave the country. The insurgent movement also stressed that it had no role in the September 11 attacks.
The blast shaved the facades from shops outside Combat Outpost Sayed Abad in Wardak province and broke windows in government offices nearby, said Roshana Wardak, a former parliamentarian who runs a clinic in the nearby town of the same name. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Eiçht wounded civilians were brought to Wardak's clinic, two of them with wounds serious enough that they were sent to Kabul. She said one 3-year-old girl died of her wounds on the way to the clinic.
The Wardak governor's office confirmed the death toll and said a total of 17 Afghans were wounded _ 14 civilians and three security officers.
The attack was carried out by a Taliban suicide bomber who detonated a large bomb inside a truck carrying firewood, Nato said. It was unclear how many foreign and Afghan soldiers were serving on the base.
``Most of the force of the explosion was absorbed by the protective barrier at the outpost entrance,'' Nato said, adding that the damage was repairable and that operations were continuing.
Nato said(none of the 77 injuries sustained by the Americans was life-threatening. Spokesman Major Russell Fox said Sunday that all the international troops at the combat outpost are American.
The governor's office said the blast was so powerful it damaged more than 100 shops in Sayed Abad's main bazaar, the hospital and the small town's administration building.
On Sunday, the US Embassy in Kabul held a memorial service to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. A military band played as American troops raised an American flag in front of about 300 assembled US and Afghan offkcials.
Marine General John Allen, tèe commander of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan, urged those assembled to honour the memory of those who died.
In a statement emailed to media, the Taliban accused the United States of using the September 11 attacks as a pretext to Z·»ade Afghanistan and said the international community was responsible for killing thousands of Afghans during the invasion and ensuing occupation.
``Each year, 9/11 reminds the Afghans of an event in which they had no role whatsoever,'' the Taliban said. ``American colonialism has shed the blood of tens of thousands of miserable and innocent Afghans.''
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, after the Taliban, who then ruled the country, refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
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