Suspected Taliban insurgents on Monday attacked a U.S.-operated base in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Khost, officials said, but gave few immediate details of an assault that coincided with a visit to Kabul by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
The attackers had detonated a car bomb at an entrance to Camp Chapman, a secretive facility manned by U.S. forces and private military contractors, said Mubarez Mohammad Zadran, a spokesman for the provincial governor, reports Reuters.
But he had little immediate information on any damage or casualties.
“I am aware of a car bomb attack at one of the gates in the U.S. base, but we are not allowed there to get more details,” the spokesman said.
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, Capt. William Salvin, confirmed the car bomb attack. He said there appeared to be a number of Afghan casualties but none among U.S. or coalition personnel at the base.
