Taliban fighters clash with Nato troops after base attack

NATO troops and Taliban fighters clashed today after a group of the insurgents, backed by suicide bombers, tried to breach the defences of the main US base in south-eastern Afghanistan.

Six suicide bombers were killed, Nato said, while the Afghan Defence Ministry put the number at 13. There were also several casualties among civilians.

A suicide bomber killed ten Afghan civilians outside the same base on Monday.

The attacks on Camp Salerno, close to the Pakistan border, are the most brazen on a major foreign base for some time and pointed to a greater confidence among Taliban militants.

A group of 30 Taliban fighters, among them suicide bombers, attacked Camp Salerno, close to the town of Khost, provincial governor Arsala Jamal said.

"Six Taliban were killed after they blew up the bombs they had on their bodies. Two children have been killed and two more, along with a woman, have been wounded," he said.

Several houses were bombed in the Nato air strikes, residents said.

"Some of the bombers were able to blow themselves up outside the base and some have been killed by our forces," said a spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force.