Rockets hit foreign base in Afghanistan

Two rockets hit the main international military base in southern Afghanistan wounding seven foreign soldiers and three civilian workers, a military official said on Saturday.

Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months to its worst level since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. More than 1,100 people, including about 50 foreign troops, have been killed since January.

Two 107 mm rockets hit the main foreign military base at the airport in the town of Kandahar on Friday evening.

Taliban occasionally fire rockets into the sprawling base, home to 7,000 soldiers and civilian workers, but they usually explode harmlessly on open ground. Friday's attack was the first time anyone had been hurt.

"Two Canadian and five U.S. soldiers and three civilian contract workers were wounded," said a spokesman for U.S.-led coalition forces, Major Quentin Innis.

He declined to reveal the nationality of the wounded civilians except to say they were not Afghan.
The Taliban commander for southern Afghanistan, Mullah Dadullah [left pic], claimed responsibility. Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, he said 10 foreign soldiers had been killed.

"We fired several rockets at the air base and they hit their target," Dadullah said.

"We will carry out more such attacks," he said. Link