KABUL: Gunmen set off a car bomb and fired rocket propelled grenades at one of the biggest NATO bases in Afghanistan on Wednesday in an attack claimed by the hardline Islamist Taliban.

Several of the attackers were killed in the strike on the Jalalabad base in eastern Afghanistan, but there were no casualties among NATO or civilian staff, said a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

"Jalalabad airfield is under attack," said Lieutenant-Commander Iain Baxter. "It is still going on."

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed the attack in a telephone call to AFP.

Baxter said however that the attackers were unable to penetrate the base.
"The attackers used a car bomb, RPG and small arms fire. They detonated the car bomb but it did not reach the perimeter," he said.

Jalalabad is one of NATO`s largest bases in Afghanistan, after Kandahar in the south and Bagram in the suburbs of Kabul, which have both been attacked by insurgents in recent months.

Concerns about the progress of the US-led war have mounted following the sacking of NATO commander US General Stanley McChrystal for insubordination and an increasing death toll among foreign troops.

BDST: 12:30 HRS, June 30, 2010