Taliban attack major NATO base in Afghanistan

“Jalalabad airfield is under attack,” ISAF spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Iain Baxter told AFP as the battle was under way.

The assault came just days before US General David Petraeus is due to take up his post as NATO commander in Afghanistan after he warned of a “tough fight” ahead in the nearly nine-year conflict.

Concerns about the progress of the war against the hardline Islamist Taliban have mounted following the dramatic sacking of Petreaus’s predecessor,US General Stanley McChrystal,and an increasing death toll among foreign troops.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed the attack — the latest strike to hit NATO bases in Afghanistan in recent weeks — in a telephone call to AFP.

“Afghan and ISAF forces repelled a number of insurgents when they attacked Jalalabad airfield this morning using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device,rocket-propelled grenades,and small arms fire,” an ISAF statement said,adding that the assailants did not breach the base perimeter.