Five NATO troops and four Afghan soldiers were killed on Saturday when a suicide bomber dressed in an army uniform struck at a military base in eastern Afghanistan, an Afghan Defense Ministry source said.
Eight others were wounded in the attack, which occurred at the entrance to the military base in eastern Afghanistan's Laghman Province. The base was the site for a meeting between Afghan National Army commanders and NATO officers from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Gen. Zaher Azimi, the head of the Defense Ministry's department for public and parliamentary affairs, confirmed that foreign troops were among the dead but did not give an exact number. He added that four translators who attended the meeting were among the wounded.
A Taliban spokesman told journalists that the attacker was an Afghan who had joined the Afghan National Army a month ago to gain access to military compounds.
The attack came a day after a suicide bomber killed the head of police for Kandahar Province, Khan Mohammad Mujahid, after getting inside the headquarters building in the southern city of Kandahar.
Attacks are a daily occurrence in Afghanistan, but Saturday's was the deadliest for foreign forces in several months.
ISAF is going to begin handing over responsibility for security in some areas to Afghan military and police at the end of June.
KABUL, April 16 (RIA Novosti)
