KABUL (AFP) — A suicide car bomb blew up at a US military base in Afghanistan and killed nine civilians Monday, as the country marked Independence Day amid warnings of possible attacks.
The blast did not penetrate the base in the eastern town of Khost and Afghan security forces were able to prevent a second suicide attack moments later, the US-led coalition and Afghan officials said.
"Insurgents detonated a vehicle-borne IED (improvised explosive device) outside a US base in Khost province today, killing nine Afghan local nationals and wounding another 13 according to initial reports," the coalition said in a statement.
A secretary to the Khost governor, Mohammad Bilal, gave the same same toll. "It was a suicide car bombing against the gates of the Salerno camp," he said.
"Moments later a second car bomber came and wanted to detonate his bombs. Police identified him and opened fire on him," Bilal said.
The attacker was able to escape into the crowd and security forces destroyed the second bomb, he said.
The dead and wounded were labourers who had been waiting to enter the base for work, the governor's spokesman Khaibar Pashtun said.
Afghanistan was Monday marking independence from Britain 89 years ago, with heightened security in the capital and elsewhere amid warnings from the international forces of possible attacks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but it was similar to scores carried out by the Taliban, who have regrouped after being driven from government in late 2001.
Commanders of the coalition and the separate NATO-led International Security Assistance Force issued a statement to inform the public of "a heightened security threat based on credible intelligence reporting."
"These reports indicate that the enemies of the people of Afghanistan intend to attack civilian, military and government targets during Afghan Independence celebrations," the statement said.
In Kabul thousands of police were on stepped-up security duty and a traditional high-profile public address by President Hamid Karzai was called off with no explanation.
The defence ministry was meanwhile keeping the wraps on a smaller commemoration due later in the day.
UN staff were told to stay at home, while other international personnel were told to restrict their movements. "Staff are working at home as precaution," UN spokesman Aleem Siddique told AFP.
Police set up checkposts at nearly every intersection in the city centre and the main entry points into the capital, although few people were on the streets for the public holiday.
The interior ministry launched Sunday an operation to secure Kabul involving 7,000 police.
The capital has suffered a series of attacks in recent weeks. The education minister escaped a roadside bomb on Saturday, while two separate bombings in the city this month have killed two foreign soldiers and about seven Afghans.
The last major parade in the capital, on April 27, was disrupted when militants opened fire on a stage where Karzai, ministers, diplomats and other senior officials were seated.
Karzai survived but three people as well as three of the attackers -- said to be from the Taliban militia -- were killed.
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