KABUL (AFP) — A suicide car bomb blew up Monday outside a US military base in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine civilian labourers, as the country marked Independence Day under the shadow of extremist attacks.
The blast, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, did not penetrate the base in the town of Khost and security forces were able to prevent a second suicide attack moments later, the US-led coalition and Afghan officials said.
It came amid massive heightened security as Afghanistan marked Independence Day, commemorating its final defeat of the British army in 1919.
Kabul was locked down with 7,000 police on patrol and checkpoints at nearly every city centre intersection and main entry points into the capital.
President Hamid Karzai's annual Independence Day address in the stadium was called off with no explanation with a small commemoration due later in the day.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said it carried out the suicide attack in Khost, 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the border with Pakistan.
The US-led coalition said insurgents detonated the device outside the base and that nine Afghans were killed and 13 wounded.
A secretary to the Khost governor, Mohammad Bilal, gave the 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 added.
He said the attacker was able to escape into the crowd and security forces destroyed the second bomb. "They wanted to disturb Independence Day," he added.
The dead and wounded were labourers who had been waiting to enter the base for work, provincial government spokesman Khaibar Pashtun said.
Reacting to the suicide bombing, Karzai said in a statement that by killing "innocent civilians on Independence Day, the terrorists showed their hostility to the freedom of Afghan people."
The Taliban were driven from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001 because they would not hand over their Al-Qaeda allies wanted for the September 11 attacks on the United States.
However, they were able to regroup, some of them taking refuge in Pakistan, to launch a snowballing insurgency which military officials say is attracting more Arab, Pakistani and other Muslim fighters.
The militia released an Independence Day statement saying that Afghanistan was again under the "occupation" of "cruel crusaders" -- a reference to the mainly US and British troops helping Afghanistan fight the insurgency.
The statement called for Afghans to join jihad (holy war).
The coalition and separate NATO-led International Security Assistance Force meanwhile issued a rare warning 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," a statement said.
UN staff were told to stay at home while other international personnel were told to restrict their movements.
The capital has suffered a series of attacks in recent weeks.
The education minister escaped a roadside bomb Saturday, while two separate blasts in the city this month have killed two foreign soldiers and about seven Afghans.
Karzai's last major public appearance, on April 27, was disrupted when militants opened fire on a stage where he, ministers, diplomats and other senior officials were seated for a military parade.
Karzai survived but three people as well as three of the attackers -- said to be Taliban -- were killed.
In fresh violence Monday, a mine blew up a police vehicle in the province of Nangarhar and killed two policemen, an official said.
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