Four killed, 14 wounded in U.S. military base suicide bombing

A suicide bomber killed and wounded multiple people at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Four people were killed and 14 were injured in the attack on Bagram Airfield near Kabul, according to a press release by the Afghanistan Resolute Support Mission.

“To the family and friends of those who lost their lives today, we share your loss and our thoughts are with you. We offer you our deepest condolences. For the family and friends of those wounded in today’s attack, let me assure you they are receiving the best care possible, and we will keep them in our thoughts today,” Resolute Support Cmdr. Gen. John W. Nicholson said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in which the suicide bomber entered the large and heavily guarded base around 5:30 a.m. dressed as a day laborer a foreign security source told the Wall Street Journal.

Upon entering the base the bomber stood in a line with Afghan laborers reporting for duty and detonated the explosives on his vest, the BBC reported.

Bagram Airfield is a home base to tens of thousands of contractors. Patrols near the base have been the target of multiple Taliban rocket attacks and a suicide bombing in Dec. 2015, which killed six U.S. soldiers.

“To those who target coalition forces, ANDSF, and Afghan civilians, Resolute Support and USFOR-A will continue to pursue our Train, Advise and Assist mission to help our partners create a better Afghanistan,” Nicholson said.

He added the incident was being investigated, but did not release the identities and nationalities of those killed and wounded in the attack.

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