In the deadliest attack on foreign troops since August, six US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Monday when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked their patrol.
Later on Monday a rocket attack barrage rocked the capital Kabul with at least three loud explosions.
Brig Gen Wilson Shoffner, head of public affairs for the NATO force, said in a statement six service members were killed and three others wounded in the suicide attack near Bagram airbase – the largest US military facility in Afghanistan.
“We’re deeply saddened by this loss,” said Shoffner.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official told Reuters news agency all six NATO troops killed were American. Two wounded were also US soldiers and the other was Afghan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on Twitter and said 19 soldiers had been killed.
Blasts rock Kabul
Separately, three loud explosions hit Kabul on Monday night, police said.
Two rockets landed near Kabul’s diplomatic district, a police source told Al Jazeera.
A third rocket hit an area near Kabul airport, the source added. No casualties have so far been reported.
The violence comes as a southern district in Helmand province fell to the Taliban after days of heavy fighting, officials told Al Jazeera.
The Taliban has stepped up attacks and has made territorial gains since NATO forces reduced troop levels and handed over security responsibilities to the Afghan National Army a year ago.
