Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said it was investigating whether the attacker was an insurgent disguised in a fake uniform, or the latest in a string of “rogue” members of the Afghan security forces who have turned on their colleagues and mentors.
On Friday, a suicide bomber in police uniform evaded tight security in police Headquarters in Kandahar city and killed Khan Mohammad Mujahid, provincial police chief of Kandahar.
The latest attack was inside one of the biggest military installations in increasingly volatile east Afghanistan, home to the 201st Corps of the Afghan army, Afghan officials say.
The NATO-led coalition said it happened on a neighboring foreign base, during a meeting. The two are located close together in the Gamberi desert, a remote area that stretches between Laghman and Nangarhar provinces.
“Our reporting indicates there was a meeting taking place and that is when the attack happened,” said Major Tim James, spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)
The attack highlights the pressure the US and NATO troops face as they rapidly train Afghan security forces to pave the way for critical security handover which begins later this year, in the face of a spiralling insurgency.
Over 120 foreign soldiers have died this year in Afghanistan, but this is the deadliest single incident since December last year, when a suicide car bomber killed six NATO and two Afghan troops in Kandahar province.
Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail statement, saying 12 foreign troops and 14 Afghan soldiers were killed. The group frequently exaggerates casualty figures.
He said the bomber was from central Daikondi province, had enlisted with the Afghan army a month ago and detonated his explosives at a meeting between Afghan and foreign troops.
The Defense Ministry declined immediate comment on whether the attacker was a real soldier, saying it was investigating.
The uniform does not prove conclusively that he was a soldier because Afghan security force outfits are readily available in markets across the country — although their sale is technically illegal.
Despite tighter vetting began by Afghan authorities for recruits, there are worries about the Taleban’s ability to infiltrate the Afghan security forces.
Western forces in Afghanistan have begun to train counter-intelligence agents to help root them out.
US Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, head of the US and NATO training mission in Afghanistan, said earlier this week 222 agents had been trained since the program began last summer, and there was a target of 445 agents by the end of the year.
