At least six suicide bombers have been killed in an attempted attack on a Nato military base in south-eastern Afghanistan, Nato officials have said. The militants failed to storm Camp Salerno in Khost province, where many US troops are based, Nato and Afghan officials said. Nato has faced a barrage of attacks across the country since Monday. Officials say heavy fighting is also taking place near the capital, Kabul, after a Nato patrol was ambushed. A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) said a major incident had been going on since Monday. He said there was heavy fighting going on in the area and it was believed there were some casualties.
The growing numbers of insurgent attacks close to the capital, Kabul, have heightened fears that the Taleban are encroaching on the capital city, says the BBC's Alastair Leithead, in Kabul.
Before the attack in Khost, the Taleban announced that a group of 30 Taleban fighters would attack Camp Salerno. Isaf confirmed that Camp Salerno had been attacked by rockets or mortars, and that a number of suicide bombers had tried to storm the base. "Isaf forces on the base had before identified a group of insurgents posturing to attack the base and engaged them with small arms fire," a statement said. "Helicopters arrived on station soon after and engaged these insurgents as they attempted to flee from the scene. "Three of the insurgents killed themselves by detonating their suicide vests. Isaf forces killed three other suicide bombers before they could detonate their vests. There were no Isaf casualties in the attack," the statement said.